i 


Ml 


A, 


PRICE  TWENTY  CENTS. 


L 


n 


Q AV\ 


SELF-SUPPORT 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


511  J>tuiip  in  finance. 


BY 


Rev.  C.  H.  CARPENTER. 


BOSTON  : 

PUBLISHED  BY  PERCIVAL  T.  BARTLETT^ 

i 

43  Lincoln  Street. 

1885. 


iy  Copies  of  this  pamphlet  will  he  sent ,  postpaid,  to  any 
address  for  twenty  cents.  Application  should  he  made  to  the 
publisher ,  at  48  Lincoln  Street ,  Boston.  Persons  desiring 
copies  for  distribution,  can  obtain  favorable  terms  by  applying  to 
the  author,  at  Newton  Centre,  Mass. 


SUPPLEMENT. 


SELF-SUPPORT:  HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN 

OUR  MISSIONS. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


I 


https://archive.org/details/selfsupporthowfaOOcarp 


SELF-SUPPORT:  HOW  FAR  ATTAINED 

IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


A  STUDY  IN  MISSION  FINANCE. 


BY  C.  H.  CARPENTER. 

British  India  is  an  empire  more  magnificent,  in  some  re¬ 
spects,  than  any  empire  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  Its  ex¬ 
penditures  are  on  an  imperial  scale,  exceeding  those  of  our  own 
nation  (the  interest  on  our  great  war  debt  included)  by  about 
$100,000,000  a  year.  Four-fifths  of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  of  her  Majesty’s  Indian  subjects  are  poor  beyond  any 
conception  that  we  in  America  can  form  of  poverty ;  and  yet  it 
is  an  axiom  with  British  statesmen,  that  “  India  must  pay  her 
own  way ;  ”  and  pay  their  way  the  dusky,  half-starved  millions 
do,  though  they  seem  at  times  to  stagger  and  almost  faint  under 
their  burdens. 

With  the  Indian  revenue  (over  $350,000,000  per  year)  is  paid 
the  entire  cost  of  the  most  highly  paid  and  the  most  highly 
pensioned  corps  of  civil  officers  in  the  world  ;  the  cost  of  a  great 
army  of  native  and  Eurasian  subordinates  in  the  courts,  collec- 
torates,  custom-houses,  post  and  telegraph  offices  ;  the  entire 
cost  of  a  native  police-force  of  190,000  men  under  European 
officers ;  of  an  army  of  190,000  men,  of  whom  65,000  are 

Europeans  ;  and  of  the  Indian  navy  ;  the  entire  cost  of  “  famine 

3 


4 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


relief ;  ”  the  expense  of  the  coast-survey,  the  great  trigonomet¬ 
rical  and  the  cadastral  surveys  ;  the  cost  of  state  railways  and 
telegraphs,  of  the  great  canals  and  irrigation  works ;  the  cost 
of  coast  defences  and  outlying  fortresses,  like  Aden  ;  a  large 
moiety  of  the  cost  of  wars  in  Egypt,  Afghanistan,  and  China. 
So  closely  is  the  line  of  division  drawn,  that  England  will  not 
even  guarantee  the  payment  of  the  public  debt  of  India  (less 
than  $800,000,000)  ;  although  she  is  determined  to  hold  India 
against  all  attacks  from  without,  and  from  all  mutinies  within, 
and  although,  by  her  guaranty,  the  interest  charge  would  be 
reduced  one-fourth. 

Poor  India  does  pay  her  own  way  under  British  rule ;  and, 
mark  the  statement,  she  is  better  off  by  far  than  she  ever  was, 
or  ever  could  be,  under  the  lawlessness  and  extortion  of  warring; 
native  princes,  ignorant,  all  of  them,  of  the  first  principles  of 
government  for  the  public  good.  Slowly  but  surely,  under  the 
rule  of  Christian  statesmen,  and  under  the  instruction  of  Chris¬ 
tian  teachers,  the  heterogeneous  generations  of  that  sad  land  are 
being  fitted  for  self-government  and  prosperity. 

India  pays  her  own  way,  also,  in  the  support  of  a  state  Chris¬ 
tianity,  as  well  as  in  the  support  of  all  non-Christian  religions. 
The  latter  she  has  voluntarily  supported  for  a  score  of  centuries. 
A  million  or  two  of  the  priests  of  Brahma,  of  Vishnu  and  Siva, 
of  Boodh  and  Mahomet,  with  the  fakirs  and  soothsayers  of  a 
hundred  occult  systems,  live  on  the  fat  of  India ;  while  the 
richest  and  most  substantial  structures  of  which  the  country 
boasts  are  mosques  and  idol-fanes,  tombs  and  monasteries,  built 
and  adorned  by  devotees  of  the  same  sad  and  ancient  land. 

This  India  is  becoming  more  and  more  a  Christian  country. 
The  statistics  gathered  at  the  last  general  missionary  conference 
in  Calcutta  show  conclusively  an  increase  of  from  fifty-three  to 
eighty-six  per  cent  in  the  number  of  native  Christian  communi¬ 
cants  in  each  of  the  last  three  decades.  A  grave  question  has 
been  pending  ever  since  Swartz,  Carey,  and  Judson  began  their 
Christ-like  labors  ;  and  it  is  not  yet  settled.  While  we  continue 
to  support  our  own  missionaries,  shall  these  converts  pay  their 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


5 


own  way  (as  they  did  when  heathen),  and,  by  becoming  a  self- 
supporting,  self-directing,  and  self-propagating  church,  or 
churches,  form  a  new  wing  in  the  Redeemer’s  army  for  spiritual 
warfare  upon  the  world?  or  must  the  older  Christian  commu¬ 
nities  of  England  and  America,  which  were  never  carried, 
continue  indefinitely  to  carry  them,  babes  in  arms,  to  the  ex¬ 
haustion  of  our  own  resources,  and  to  the  hopeless  enervation 
of  their  powers  ? 

A  great  deal  is  said  at  present  in  commendation  of  the  prin¬ 
ciple  of  self-support  in  missions.  It  w'ould  be  easy  to  infer  that 
all  are  agreed,  in  sentiment  and  in  practice,  on  this  point,  and 
that  rapid  progress  is  being  made  in  all  quarters  of  the  mission- 
field  towards  the  desired  goal.  In  view  of  the  long-continued 
commercial  depression,  and  of  the  strong  appeals  that  are  com¬ 
ing  from  Africa  and  other  unoccupied  fields,  it  is  important  and 
not  untimely  to  seek  reliable  answers  to  the  following  related 
questions  :  — 

1.  Is  the  general  tendency  or  drift  towards  an  increased  or  a 
diminished  expenditure  of  mission  funds  on  the  fields  now  occu¬ 
pied  by  the  Missionary  Union? 

2.  If  the  average  expenditure  per  man  is  rapidly  increasing, 
to  what  object  or  objects  is  the  increase  applied? 

3.  What  is  the  position  actually  occupied  to-day  by  the  sev¬ 
eral  missions  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  as  to 
self-support  ? 

4.  Finally,  what  can  be  done,  if  any  thing,  to  reverse  the 
disastrous  tendency  referred  to,  and  to  turn  the  present  defeat 
of  self-support,  in  most  fields,  into  a  victory? 

Most  Baptists  will  agree  that  the  main  work  of  a  foreign  mis¬ 
sionary  society  should  be  to  send  out,  and  support  in  pagan  lands, 
faithful  preachers  of  the  gospel.  There  are,  of  course,  many 
expenses  necessarily  incidental  to  the  great  work  of  establishing 
Christ’s  kingdom  firmly  in  heathen  countries.  For  example, 
there  are  the  outfits  and  passages  of  missionaries  to  be  pro¬ 
vided  ;  presses  to  be  maintained  for  printing  Bibles  and  a  Chris¬ 
tian  literature  in  strange  tongues  ;  schools  for  the  training  of  a 


6 


SELF-SUPPORT : 


native  ministry,  etc.  There  is  room,  also,  for  an  indefinite 
amount  of  humane  and  civilizing  work,  —  work  that  is  done  in 
hospitals  and  dispensaries,  in  schools  and  workshops,  all  of  it 
with  more  or  less  advantage  to  the  cause  of  spiritual  Christi¬ 
anity,  provided  always  that  this  subsidiary  work  keeps  its 
place  in  strict  subordination  to  the  one  great  work  of  preaching, 
which  has  the  first,  if  not  the  exclusive,  place  in  our  Lord’s 
command.  The  law  of  proportion  is  a  great  law  in  God’s  uni¬ 
verse  :  it  is  a  great  law,  also,  in  the  economics  of  Christ’s 
kingdom.  There  is  constant  danger  that  the  due  proportion 
which  should  exist  between  the  principal  and  the  subsidiary  will 
be  exceeded  ;  and  there  is  constant  need  of  watchfulness,  lest 
the  main  work  of  missions  shall  be  overshadowed  and  stunted 
by  an  overgrowth  of  work  that  is  good  in  itself,  and  of  more  or 
less  importance,  but  which  will  strangle  the  one  hope  of  the 
nations  if  it  is  not  kept  down  with  a  firm  hand. 

The  seventieth  anniversary  of  the  Missionary  Union  has 
passed  ;  and  if  it  should  appear  that  we  have  been  slowly  but 
steadily  increasing  our  expenditures  for  side  objects,  and  for  the 
support  of  native  work  abroad  that  ought  to  support  itself,  to 
the  hinderance  of  our  one  great  business,  there  is  little  occasion 
for  fear  or  discouragement,  provided  a  remedy  be  applied 
promptly.  The  masts  and  hull  of  the  old  “Union”  are  still 
stanch  enough,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  there  is  skill  enough 
in  her  officers  and  crew  to  ’bout  ship  without  disaster. 

I.  WHAT  IS  THE  DRIFT? 

Let  us  first  compare  the  Treasurer’s  Reports  for  the  last  fifty 
years  in  this  way :  Beginning  with  1835,  we  take  from  the 
gross  expenditure  of  the  Society  for  each  year,  at  home  and 
abroad,  three  items,  —  the  sums  spent  on  Indian  missions  in 
North  America,  annuities  paid  to  the  donors  of  funds,  and  all 
contributions  from  the  foreign  fields  of  the  Union,  in  Asia, 
Europe,  or  Africa,  that  can  be  ascertained.  Then,  for  a  divisor, 
we  take  the  whole  number  of  American  male  missionaries  actu¬ 
ally  on  the  foreign  field,  including,  with  preachers  of  the  gospel, 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


7 


new  men  learning  the  native  languages,  school-teachers,  trans¬ 
lators,  printers,  medical  men,  and  mission  treasurers.  We  do 
not  include  new  missionaries  on  their  way  out,  for  their  salary 
does  not  begin  until  they  arrive  at  their  destination  ;  nor  old 
missionaries  on  furlough,  for  there  would  be  equal  propriety  in 
including  the  secretaries  and  other  home-workers.  We  aim  thus 
to  ascertain  the  average  expenditure  from  year  to  year  for  each 
man  who  stands  on  pagan  shores  as  the  agent  and  representative 
of  the  American  Baptist  churches  in  fulfilling  the  Great  Com¬ 
mission. 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  MISSIONARY  UNION.  TABLE  I. 


Showing  the  Tendency  to  Increased  Expenditures. 


Year. 

No.  of  American 
Male  Missiona¬ 
ries  on  theField. 

Expenditures  of 
the  Society  for 
the  Year,  less 
Three  Items. 

Average  Expen¬ 
diture  per  Man. 

Remarks. 

1835 

• 

16 

$44,383  95 

$2,774  00 

First  decade,  1835-44, 

1836 

• 

27 

42,818  38 

1,585  86 

inclusive :  — 

1837 

• 

33 

57,964  89 

1,756  51 

Average  number  of  men 

1838 

• 

29 

72,209  93 

2,490  00 

on  the  field  ....  29.9 

1839 

• 

;  . 

32 

101,484  58 

3,171  39 

Average  expenditure 

1840 

• 

29 

62,362  37 

2,150  42 

per  man . $2,201  20 

1841 

• 

33 

77,810  31 

2,357  88 

1842 

• 

34 

51,605  40 

1,517  80 

1843 

■ 

33 

58,009  89 

1,757  87 

1844 

• 

33 

80,858  91 

2,450  27 

1845 

• 

34 

85,145  71 

2,504  28 

Second  decade, 1845-54, 

1846 

• 

27 

89,429  39 

3,312  19 

inclusive :  — 

1847 

• 

32 

76,553  02 

2,392  28 

Average  number  of  men 

1848 

• 

35 

78,235  25 

2,235  29 

on  the  field  ....  37.1 

1849 

• 

38 

80,747  95 

2,124  94 

Average  expenditure 

1850 

• 

35 

80,074  38 

2,287  84 

per  man . $2,495  37 

1851 

• 

45 

91,003  08 

2,022  29 

1852 

• 

41 

98,064  24 

2,391  81 

1853 

• 

45 

109,508  12 

2,433  51 

1854 

• 

39 

126,724  96 

„  3,249  35 

8 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


TABLE  I.  —  Concluded. 


Year. 

No.  of  American 
Male  Missiona¬ 
ries  on  the  Field. 

Expenditures  of 

the  Society  for 

the  Year,  less 

Three  Items. 

Average  Expen¬ 

diture  per  Man. 

Remarks. 

1855 

• 

39 

$128,843  24 

$3,303  67 

Third  decade,  1855-64 

1856 

• 

36 

97,516  97 

2,708  80 

inclusive :  — 

1857 

• 

29 

99,997  31 

3,448  18 

Average  number  of  men 

1858 

• 

27 

91,798  40 

3,399  94 

on  the  field  ....  29.8 

1859 

• 

25 

94,092  65 

3,763  70 

Average  expenditure 

1860 

29 

86,904  83 

2,996  72 

per  man . $3,288  88 

1861 

• 

28 

86,674  58 

3,095  52 

1862 

• 

28 

72,697  33 

2,596  33 

1863 

• 

27 

92,719  10 

3,434  04 

1864 

• 

30 

124,258  65 

4,141  95 

1865 

• 

32 

145,935  65 

4,560  49 

Fourth  decade,  1865-74, 

1866 

• 

35 

174,663  36 

4,990  38 

inclusive :  — 

1867 

• 

34 

193,754  40 

5,698  66 

Average  number  of  men 

1868 

• 

39 

209,511  06 

5,372  08 

on  the  field,  ....  36.8 

1869 

• 

34 

177,168  18 

5,210  83 

Average  expenditure 

1870 

• 

34 

204,643  80 

6,018  93 

per  man . $5,352  78 

1871 

• 

36 

177,778  24 

4,938  28 

1872 

• 

39 

220,854  64 

5,662  94 

1873 

• 

42 

230,238  02 

5,481  85 

1874 

• 

43 

240,516  43 

5,593  40 

1875 

• 

52 

260,239  17 

5,004  59 

Fifth  decade,  1875-84, 

1876 

• 

47 

213,787  16 

4,548  66 

inclusive :  — 

1877 

• 

49 

235,309  04 

4,802  22 

Average  number  of  men 

1878 

• 

47 

231,622  81 

4,928  14 

on  the  field  ....  53 

1879 

• 

46 

221,754  64 

4,820  75 

Average  expenditure 

1880 

• 

52 

235,886  07 

4,536  27 

per  man . $4,885  40 

1881 

• 

51 

277,188  60 

5,435  07 

1882 

• 

52 

277,686  57 

5,340  12 

1883 

• 

63 

303,136  87 

4,811  69 

1884 

• 

71 

328,486  68 

4,626  57 

For  the  first  decade  under  review,  therefore,  the  Society  had 
on  the  field  an  average  of  29.9  men,  at  an  average  expendi¬ 
ture,  including  the  salaries  of  officers  and  agents  at  home,  and 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


9 


all  other  expenses  save  the  three  items  mentioned  above,  of 
$2,201.20  per  man. 

For  the  second  decade,  1845-54,  there  were  37.1  men  on  the 
field,  at  an  average  annual  expenditure  of  $2,495.37  per  man, 

—  an  increase  over  the  first  decade  of  13^  per  cent. 

For  the  third  decade,  there  was  a  falling-off  in  the  number  of 
men  to  29.8  ;  but  the  average  expenditure  increased  324  per 
cent,  to  $3,288.88  per  man. 

During  the  fourth  decade,  1865-74,  owing  to  the  suspension 
of  specie  payments  through  the  whole  period,  there  is  a  phenom¬ 
enal  increase  in  the  cost  of  the  missions  in  United  States  dollars, 

—  an  average  of  36.8  men  on  the  field,  involving  an  average 
expenditure  of  $5,352.78  per  man. 

For  the  fifth  decade,  1875-84,  inclusive,  an  average  of  53 
men  on  the  field  involved  an  average  annual  expenditure  of 
$4,885.40.  Omitting  the  average  of  the  fourth  decade,  as 
partly  due  to  extraordinary  circumstances,  we  find  an  increase 
in  the  expenditures  of  the  fifth  decade  over  the  third,  of  48J 
per  cent,  or  about  24  per  cent  for  each  of  the  last  two  dec¬ 
ades.  The  total  increase  in  the  average  expenditure  per  man 
in  the  fifth  decade,  as  compared  with  the  first,  is  122  per  cent. 
This,  of  course,  is  the  increase  of  forty  years. 

Notwithstanding,  therefore,  the  gradual  accumulation,  since 
1814,  of  the  expensive  “  plant”  needful  for  the  efficient  prose¬ 
cution  of  our  work  abroad,  such  as  mission  compounds,  dwell¬ 
ing-houses,  schoolhouses,  chapels,  presses,  and  machinery  of 
various  kinds,  literary  apparatus  created,  and  Bibles  translated 
and  printed  at  great  cost ;  notwithstanding,  too,  the  great 
advance  in  numbers,  intelligence,  resources,  and  organization 
of  our  native  converts,  —  it  appears  plain  that  there  has  been  a 
large  and  steady  increase  in  the  ratio  of  our  expenditures  to 
our  fighting  force  from  this  country.  We  congratulate  ourselves 
that  the  receipts  of  the  Union  have  increased  tenfold  in  fifty 
years  ;  but  if,  in  the  fifth  decade,  we  are  maintaining  on  the 
foreign  field  rather  less  than  twice  the  number  of  male  mission¬ 
aries  that  we  had  in  the  first,  our  congratulations  might  well 


10 


SELF-SUPPORT : 


be  tempered  with  modesty,  if  not  with  shame,  especially  when 
we  remember  the  abounding  blessing  of  the  Lord  which  has 
attended  our  labors  abroad,  and  the  amazing  growth  of  our 
denominational  wealth  and  numbers  at  home.  Is  it  strange 
that  thoughtful  men  are  beginning  to  ask  when  this  increase  in 
the  rate  of  expenditure  is  to  cease,  and  how,  if  the  expenditure 
on  old  fields  is  to  wax  greater  and  greater,  new  fields  are  to  be 
occupied  ? 

II.  WHITHER  GOES  THE  INCREASE,  AND  FOR  WHAT? 

Since  the  time  when  our  Baptist  fathers  first  organized,  at  the 
call  of  Judson,and  Rice,  for  the  support  of  foreign  missions, 
the  accounts  rendered  to  the  denomination  annually  have  shown 
the  exact  sums  paid  to  each  one  of  the  executive  officers  and 
collecting-agents  at  home.  Not  so,  however,  with  the  workers 
abroad.  The  amounts  appropriated  for  the  support  of  a  par¬ 
ticular  mission  were  given  in  gross,  under  some  comprehensive 
term,  like  “  Remittances,  Drafts,  and  Purchases.”  Under  this 
method,  it  was  impossible  for  any  friend  of  missions,  outside 
of  the  Rooms  in  Boston,  to  tell  the  salary  paid  to  any  particular 
missionary,  or  the  cost  of  any  school,  or  of  any  department  of 
mission-work.  This  rather  unconfidential  and  unsatisfactory 
method  is  still  in  vogue  in  most  foreign  missionary  societies  ; 
but  it  has  given  place,  in  the  Missionary  Union,  to  a  better  one. 
For  the  last  twelve  years  it  has  been  possible  to  learn  from  the 
published  reports  how  much  every  missionary  on  the  field  or  at 
home  has  cost  the  Society,  and  how  much  has  been  intrusted 
from  the  Society’s  treasury  to  each,  for  expenditure  in  the  work. 
This  is  as  it  should  be,  we  think ;  and  little  room  appears  to 
be  left  now  for  improvement  in  the  book-keeping  of  the  Union. 

Taking  the  last  report  of  the  treasurer,  rendered  May,  1884, 
we  find  the  gross  expenditure  for  the  year  to  be  $341,284.94. 
Deducting  $6,722.32,  the  sum  paid  in  annuities  to  donors  of 
u  funds,”  we  have  a  net  expenditure  of  $334,562. 62. 1  Going 

1  In  Table  I.,  $6,075.94  additional  is  deducted  for  donations  credited  to 
France,  Burma,  Japan,  etc.,  in  the  Magazine  for  July,  1884,  p.  201. 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


11 


over  the  items  charged  to  the  several  missions  with  great  care, 
we  find  the  expenditures  classifying  naturally  under  eleven 
heads,  thus  :  — 


AMERICAN  BAPTIST  MISSIONARY  UNION.  TABLE  II. 


Giving  an  Analysis  of  the  Expenditures  for  1881+. 


1.  Salaries,  72  male  missionaries  on  the  field  .  (about  24%) 


2.  Salaries,  37  single  ladies  on  the  field  .  .  .  (5 \°J0) 

3.  Dwelling-houses  and  mission  compounds,  in  part .  (5%) 

4.  Scriptures  and  printing,  in  part  ....  (1%) 

5.  Schools,  buildings  for  schools,  and  “  mission-work  ”  (46%) 

6.  Outfits  and  passages . (4 1%) 

7.  Missionaries  at  home . (3%) 

8.  “  Collected  on  the  field  ”  (partly  from  America)  .  (3%) 


$83,413  70 
18,633  32 
16,683  63 
3,650  00 
159,279  16 
15,965  04 
10,697  76 
9,878  74 


Total  expended  on  the  field  ....  $315,201  35 

Less  “saved  on  exchange,”  etc.  .  .  .  11,606  00 


Net  expenditure  on  the  field  ....  (90f%)  $303,595  35 

9.  Executive  officers  and  agents . (74%)  25,168  54 

10.  Publications . (-£%)  1,892  31 

11.  Miscellaneous  home  expenses  ....  (1%)  3,906  42 


Grand  Total 


$334,562  62 


Now,  taking  this  table  as  a  starting-point,  we  wish  to  look 
backwards,  and  ascertain,  if  possible,  under  which  of  these 
eleven  heads  the  large  increase  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-two 
per  cent  in  expenditure,  which  we  have  noted,  falls.  It  is  true 
that  the  salaries  of  the  officers  at  home,  and  of  the  missionaries 
abroad,  have  been  increased  somewhat,  to  meet  the  increased 
cost  of  living  in  these  later  years ;  the  helping  hands  of  many 
devoted  women  have  also  been  added  to  the  force  abroad  :  but 
we  shall  find  that  neither  one  nor  both  of  these  factors  will 
account  for  the  main  part  of  the  increase. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  home  expenses.  As  funds  cannot 
be  collected  and  disbursed,  for  any  purpose,  without  labor  and 
expense,  it  is  evident  that  some  measure  of  expenditure  at  home 
is  as  essential  to  the  prosecution  of  the  work  abroad  as  are  the 
salaries  of  those  who  preach  to  the  heathen  with  the  living 
voice.  From  $44,384,  in  1835,  the  expenditures  of  the  Union 


12 


SELF-SUPPORT : 


have  increased  eightfold  in  fifty  years,  reaching  the  sum  of 
$334,562  for  1884.  The  larger  the  amounts  handled,  the 
smaller  should  be  the  percentage  of  cost  for  collection  and  ad¬ 
ministration.  Accordingly,  we  find  that  there  has  been  a  small 
diminution  in  the  ratio  of  home  expenses  to  the  total  expendi¬ 
ture  in  the  last  half-century,  but  not  nearly  as  much  as  there 
would  have  been  if  pastors  had  been  forward  to  aid  in  the  work 
of  collection. 

In  1835,  the  first  of  the  fifty  years  under  review,  the  treasurer 
served  gratuitously  ;  and  the  salary  of  the  corresponding  secre¬ 
tary  ($1,000),  clerk-hire,  and  editorial  services  cost  $2,152.25 
only,  or  4T8^  per  cent  of  the  net  expenditure  ;  but,  if  we  add 
the  miscellaneous  expenses  and  the  heavy  cost  of  “premium 
and  discount,”  the  total  home  expenses  for  the  year  reach 
$5,989.34,  or  13^  per  cent  of  the  net  payments.  It  must  be 
added,  however,  that,  during  the  first  one  or  two  decades  under 
review,  about  one-fourth  of  the  home  charges  might  fairly  be 
reckoned  as  belonging  to  the  Indian  missions  in  North  America, 
reducing  the  percentage  to  that  extent. 

In  1844,  the  last  year  of  the  first  decade,  the  amount  paid  to 
executive  officers  and  agents  was  $7,503.23,  or  9t2q  per  cent  of 
the  net  payments  for  the  year.  The  cost  of  publications  was 
t9o  of  1  per  cent,  and  the  miscellaneous  expenses  4i7q  ;  making 
a  total  of  14-^j-  per  cent  for  home  charges. 

In  1854,  the  last  year  of  the  second  decade,  the  amount  paid 
for  home  salaries  and  agencies,  including  a  part  of  the  cost  of 
the  u  deputation  ”  to  Asia,  was  $14,612,  or  11  \  per  cent  of  the 
whole.  Adding  4  per  cent  for  publications  and  miscellanies,  we 
have  a  total  home  expenditure  of  15J  per  cent. 

In  1864,  the  last  year  of  the  third  decade,  the  cost  of  home 
agencies  and  salaries  was  $9,666.34,  of  publications  $775.20, 
of  miscellanies  $2,295.06  ;  making  a  total  home  expenditure  of 
$12,736.60,  or  10t2q  percent  of  the  entire  net  expenditure. 

In  1874,  the  last  year  of  the  fourth  decade,  home  agencies 
and  salaries  cost  the  Society  $30,428.87,  publications  cost 
$2,332.45,  and  miscellanies  $7,725.32  ;  a  total  of  $40,486.64, 
or  16t8q  per  cent  of  the  entire  net  expenditure  for  the  year. 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


13 


In  the  last  year  of  the  fifth  decade,  1884,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  entire  home  expenses  were  $30,967.27,  or  9t2q  per  cent  of 
the  net  payments.  If  it  be  said  that  the  Woman’s  Societies, 
East  and  West,  are  a  very  economical  collecting-agency,  and 
that  their  home  expenses  should  be  reckoned  also,  inasmuch  as 
their  foreign  expenditures  are  included  in  the  expenditures  of 
the  Union,  reducing  the  percentage  of  home  expenses  propor¬ 
tionally,  that  would  add  $6,862.24,  and  would  raise  the  entire 
cost  of  the  home-work  of  the  Union  and  its  auxiliaries  to  llT3o 
per  cent  of  the  whole  net  expenditure.  This,  it  will  be  ob¬ 
served,  is  somewhat  less  than  the  percentage  in  the  other  years 
examined,  excepting  1864,  when  it  was  only  10^-. 

The  cost  of  outfits  and  passages  of  missionaries  seems  to  be 
less  now,  relatively,  than  it  was  fifty  years  ago.  While  the 
missionary’s  term  of  service  abroad  may  be  somewhat  shorter, 
and  his  voyages  homeward  more  frequent,  now  than  they  were 
in  the  days  of  sailing  round  the  Cape,  the  aggregate  cost  of 
getting  him  and  his  to  and  from  the  field  seems  to  have  dimin¬ 
ished.  Thus,  in  1844,  outfits  and  passages  were  7^  per  cent 
of  the  net  payments ;  in  1854,  8T4a ;  in  1864,  2J ;  in  1874, 
13^  ;  and  in  1884,  4T7^. 

The  allowances  paid  to  missionaries  on  furlough  vary  in 
amount  a  good  deal  from  year  to  year,  but  they  seem  to  average 
no  more  than  formerly.  Thus,  in  1854  these  allowances  amounted 
to  a  little  over  5  per  cent  of  the  total  expenditure  ;  in  1864, 
to  l^j  per  cent ;  in  1874,  to  3  per  cent ;  and  in  1884,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  3T2y  per  cent. 

It  appears,1  therefore,  that,  while  the  cost  of  administration 
and  collection  has  increased  largely  with  the  increasing  scale 
of  our  missionary  operations,  there  has  been  a  slight  diminution 
in  the  ratio  of  that  cost  to  the  whole  expenditure.  There  has 
also  been  a  diminution  in  the  percentage  expended  on  outfits 
and  passages,  and  no  perceptible  increase  in  the  percentage 

1  Of  course,  an  exhaustive  examination  of  all  the  years  might  show  a 

somewhat  different  result;  but  we  have  no  reason  to  suspect  that  the  years 

selected  at  random  are  not  a  fair  sample  of  the  several  decades. 


14 


SELF-SUPPORT : 


expended  upon  missionaries  at  home  on  furlough.  How  has 
it  been  with  that  which  should  be  the  chief  item  in  the  cost  of 
our  work,  the  amount  spent  for  the  support  of  ordained  mis¬ 
sionaries  on  the  field? 

We  have  already  ascertained  with  precision  the  number  of 
male  missionaries  on  the  field  for  each  of  the  last  fifty  years. 
(See  Table  I.)  We  know,  that,  prior  to  1863,  the  salary  paid 
to  male  missionaries  in  Asia  was  $600  a  year,  with  an  allowance 
of  $80  for  each  child  below  the  age  of  eighteen  (?),  and  all 
expenses  for  medical  attendance  and  travel  for  health  paid  by 
the  mission.  In  1863  it  was  deemed  to  be  an  economical  arrange¬ 
ment  for  the  Society  to  raise  the  salary  to  $800  for  the  first 
three  years  of  service,  and  to  $1,000  for  succeeding  years, 
leaving  the  missionary  to  support  his  own  children,  be  they  few 
or  many,  and  to  defray  his  own  doctor’s  bills,  and  the  cost  of 
journeys  for  health,  as  pastors  generally  do  at  home,  without 
recourse  to  the  Society. 

Most  of  the  older  missionaries  were  slow  to  enter  into  the 
new  arrangement,  preferring  at  first  their  old  allowances  to 
the  $1,000  offered  to  them  under  the  new  rules.  If,  however,  we 
reckon  $900  as  the  average  cost  for  salary,  support  of  children, 
doctor’s  bills,  etc.,  for  the  first  three  decades,  we  shall  find  that 
the  amount  paid  out  for  the  support  of  missionary  families 
on  the  field  was  40-^-  per  cent  of  the  entire  net  expenditure 
for  the  first  decade,  36  per  cent  for  the  second,  and  27t3q  per 
cent  for  the  third.  The  fourth  decade  we  leave  out  of 
account,  for  the  reason  already  given.  In  1874  the  salary 
was  raised  to  $1,000  for  the  first  three  years,  and  $1,200  there¬ 
after.  If  we  reckon  fifteen  years  as  the  average  term  of  ser¬ 
vice,  the  average  salary  for  the  fifth  decade  would  be  $1,160, 
and  the  average  percentage  of  this  most  essential  item  in  the 
whole  expenditure,  only  23t7q.  For  1884,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
exact  amount  paid  out  in  salaries  to  men  on  the  field  was  24T^- 
per  cent  of  the  whole.  This,  certainly,  is  a  very  heavy  falling- 
off  from  the  40^-  per  cent  expended  on  preaching-missionaries 
during  the  first  decade,  especially  when  we  consider  the  increase 
of  $200  a  year  to  each  man  throughout  the  last  decade. 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


15 


The  command  is,  to  go  preach  the  gospel.  If  it  be  true, 
then,  as  it  is,  that  the  ratio  of  our  expenditure  on  preaching- 
missionaries  (all  male  missionaries,  indeed,  are  not  such)  has 
fallen  off  fully  three-eighths,  to  what  has  the  deficiency  been 
diverted?  Under  what  heads  shall  we  look  for  the  correspond¬ 
ing  increase  of  expenditure?  The  area  of  inquiry  has  been 
narrowed  down,  so  that  our  search  must  soon  be  successful.  The 
increase  cannot  be  due  to  extravagant  house-building  nor  to 
Bible-work. 

In  1844  the  Union  was  supporting  three  unmarried  ladies  on 
the  mission-field.  In  1854  the  number  had  risen  to  four.  Since 
1871  it  has  rapidly  increased  to  the  present  number,  thirty- 
seven.  About  five  per  cent  of  our  annual  expenditure  is  now 
applied  to  the  support  of  these  our  single  sisters,  who  have 
gone  forth  in  response  to  urgent  invitations  from  married  mis¬ 
sionaries,  to  help  them  in  any  way  and  in  all  ways  that  offer, 
for  the  advancement  of  Christ’s  kingdom  among  the  heathen. 
The  spirit  in  which  they  and  their  supporters  in  this  country 
are  rendering  this  service  is  admirable ;  their  devotion  is  abso¬ 
lute  ;  and,  in  so  far  as  their  educational  work  has  followed  in 
the  wake  of  the  gospel  ship,  a  swift-winged  u  tender,”  freighted 
with  help,  enlightenment,  and  comfort  for  converts  who  feel  the 
need  of  aid  in  their  own  hard  struggle  upwards  towards  the  full 
light  and  liberty  of  the  gospel,  we  have  no  word  of  criticism  to 
offer.  But  if  it  should  be  found,  that,  in  their  zeal  to  serve, 
some  of  the  schools  have  been  established,  at  heavy  expense, 
as  evangelizing  agencies ,  in  advance  of  the  conversion  of  the 
people  to  God  in  considerable  numbers,  then  we  submit  that  it 
is  time  for  Baptists  to  halt.  It  is  time  for  us  to  consider  con¬ 
scientiously  whether  our  Lord  intended  to  have  the  Great  Com¬ 
mission  read  backwards  ;  and,  if  not,  whether  it  is  not  high 
time  to  put  men  and  preachers  into  the  van  once  more,  to  limit 
our  school- work  strictly  to  the  necessities  of  the  converts,  and 
to  gauge  it  largely  by  the  willmgness  and  the  ability  of  the  converts 
to  bear  their  share  of  the  cost. 

The  increase  that  we  are  in  search  of  must  be  looked  for,  not 


16 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


so  much  in  the  five  per  cent  expended  on  the  support  of  thirty- 
seven  single  ladies,  as  in  the  forty-six  per  cent  expended  under 
the  fifth  head  of  Table  II.,  “Schools,  School-Buildings,  and 
Mission- Work.”  The  Report  for  1884  places  the  number  of 
non-self-supporting  schools,  in  connection  with  our  Asiatic  mis¬ 
sions,  at  232  ;  the  number  of  non-self-supporting  churches  at 
204. 

III.  SCHOOL-WORK  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 

The  school  question  in  our  missions  received  great  attention 
from  1852  to  1855.  The  “deputation”  took  somewhat  strin¬ 
gent  measures  for  the  abolition  or  reconstruction  of  schools  then 
existing  in  Maulmain.  The  stand  taken  by  the  executive  offi¬ 
cers  at  that  time,  seems  to  have  been  approved  by  the  great 
body  of  ministers  and  laymen  at  home,  although  it  did  not 
receive  the  undivided  assent  of  the  missionaries.  As  late  as 
March  11,  1878,  the  Executive  Committee  unanimously  adopted 
an  admirable  minute  on  the  subject,  from  which  we  take  the 
following  extract :  — 

“  The  rapid  increase  of  school-work  in  our  missions  justifies  a  delib¬ 
erate  review  of  the  principles  on  -which  it  should  be  conducted.  For 
it  must  be  taken  for  granted  that  there  are  principles  which  ought  to 
determine  our  action  in  this  matter.  The  following  may  be  specified 
as  well-nigh  self-evident:  — 

“1.  That  the  one  all-comprehending  object  of  missionary  work,  as 
carried  on  by  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  is,  to  win  the 
heathen  to  Christ  and  eternal  life. 

“  2.  That  the  one  divinely  authorized  way  of  doing  this  is  by  preach¬ 
ing  to  them  the  gospel  in  its  purity,  and  by  teaching  them,  when 
converted,  to  obey  its  precepts. 

“  3.  That  other  forms  of  labor  can  be  embraced  in  missionary  work 
in  so  far  only  as  they  are  either  prerequisite,  or  plainly  and  directly 
auxiliary,  to  this. 

“4.  That  any,  and  indeed  all,  other  forms  of  labor,  should  be  kept 
in  a  strictly  subordinate  relation  to  the  work  of  evangelizing  the 
people,  and  should  be  used  as  means  to  this  end. 

11  From  these  principles,  which  will  probably  be  accepted  by  all  of  our 
missionaries  as  correct,  the  following  rules  of  action  may  fairly  be 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


17 


deduced  as  applicable  to  school-work  among  converts  and  the  people 
in  our  missions  :  — 

“1.  Christian  converts  should  be  taught  that  it  is  their  duty  to  pro¬ 
vide  for  themselves  and  their  children  the  rudiments  of  education. 
.  .  .  The  Christian  people  of  America  can  never  be  expected  to  give 
those  of  Asia  primary  education :  they  might  as  well  be  asked  to 
feed  and  clothe  them.  Self-help  and  self-culture  are  indispensable 
to  the  welfare  of  converts  to  Christianity. 

“2.  The  converts  should  be  expected,  also,  as  soon  as  they  can  pos¬ 
sibly  do  this,  to  support  station  schools  for  the  better  education  of 
some  of  their  children.  No  station  school  ought  to  be  dependent,  for 
any  considerable  period  or  amount,  upon  mission-funds.  What  the 
people  provide  for  themselves  is  worth  thrice  as  much  to  them,  as  the 
same  thing  furnished  to  their  hand  by  others. 

“3.  They  should  also  be  expected  to  support  themselves,  or  their 
children,  in  obtaining  any  higher  education  for  secular’  ends.  At  least, 
they  should  be  made  to  understand  and  feel  that  mission-funds- are  not 
contributed  for  secular  purposes,  and  that  any  help  which  is  afforded 
them  in  obtaining  a  liberal  education  for  worldly  employments  must 
be  secured  by  special  contributions  here  or  there. 

“4.  Higher  education  for  distinctly  Christian  service,  and  espe¬ 
cially  for  the  ministry,  may  properly  be  given  them,  at  least  in  part, 
by  the  Missionary  Union.  Yet  they  should  be  required  to  do  what 
they  can  in  educating  their  own  ministry  even.” 


Will  it  be  believed  that  to-day  we  are  expending  on  schools 
in  Asia,  with  the  approval,  apparently,  of  the  executive  body, 
more  than  twice  as  much  as  we  were  expending  in  1878,  and 
many  times  more,  both  in  money  and  missionary  time,  than  we 
were  expending  prior  to  the  check  given  to  educational  work 
in  1854?  English,  also,  is  freely  taught  in  nearly  all  of  our 
mission-schools,  and  fancy  work  in  most  of  the  schools  for 
girls. 

To  assist  in  the  education  of  a  native  ministry,  and  to  give 
some  aid  to  converts  who  are  striving,  to  the  extent  of  their 
means,  to  educate  their  children,  is  one  thing.  To  go  beyond 
this,  and  make  expensive  provision  for  the  education  of  children 
and  youth,  the  large  majority  of  whom  are  from  heathen  fami- 


18 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


lies  whose  parents  will  not  accept  Christianity  for  themselves, 
and  are  presumably  opposed  to  having  their  children  accept  it ; 
to  buy  land,  erect  buildings,  provide  costly  American  teachers 
and  native  assistants,  furnish  food  and  all  the  appliances  of  a 
native  boarding-department,  and  then  receive  back  from  some  of 
the  pupils  a  tuition  of  ten,  twenty,  or  fort}^  cents  a  month,  and 
from  some  others  a  dollar  or  two  a  month,  towards  the  cost 
of  the  food  which  they  eat,  —  to  expend  so  many  thousands  of 
dollars  in  this  way,  I  say,  that  we  are  unable  to  send  out  the 
men  who  are  needed  to  enter  open  doors  for  preaching  the  gospel 
in  “  the  regions  beyond,”  may  not  be  absolute  waste,  but  it  can¬ 
not  be  the  highest  form  of  obedience  to  the  last  command  of 
our  Lord. 

To  make  my  meaning  clear  requires  us  to  consider  a  few  typi¬ 
cal  cases,  all  taken  from  official  reports  which  are  accessible  to 
every  pastor. 

Since  1873,  leaving  out  of  account  the  salaries,  outfits,  and 
passages  of  the  ladies  engaged  in  the  work,  we  find  that  the 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  has  expended  on  the  Bur¬ 
mese  girls’  school  in  Maulmain,  $27,378.54.  While  the  ladies 
engaged  in  educational  work  are  supported  from  the  general 
funds,  it  is  fair  to  state  that  a  part  (how  large  we  have  no  means 
of  determining)  of  the  above-named  sum  and  of  other  sums 
mentioned  hereafter  was  contributed  specifically  for  the  objects 
named.  On  the  Eurasian  school  in  the  same  town,  $6,409.50 
have  been  spent,  not  reckoning  large  sums  drawn  from  England 
and  other  sources  outside  the  treasury  of  the  Union.  Besides 
these  two  schools,  some  thousands  of  dollars  have  been  spent 
upon  a  school  for  Burman  boj^s. 

What,  then,  is  the  extent  of  the  Christian  population  which  is 
to  be  benefited  by  this  large  expenditure  and  b}7  the  precious 
lives  which  have  been  devoted  to  the  same  object?  In  1874 
there  were,  in  the  three  Burman  and  Talaing  churches  connected 
with  Maulmain,  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  mem¬ 
bers.  In  1884  the  number  had  risen  to  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
two.  We  have  looked  in  vain  for  a  statement  of  the  amounts 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


19 


given  by  the  native  Christians  for  these  schools  ;  and  we  will  not 
hazard  a  guess,  whether  they  have  given  an  amount  equal  to  one 
or  ten  per  cent  of  the  sums  expended  upon  them  from  America. 
We  ask,  with  all  respect  for  the  excellent  promoters  of  these 
enterprises,  whether  any  one  would  think  of  appealing  to  benev¬ 
olent  persons  to  provide  expensive  schools  like  these  for  so  small 
a  constituency  on  American  soil?  We  ask  again,  is  it  right, 
is  it  in  accordance  with  a  high  ideal  of  Christian  stewardship, 
to  ask  for  such  contributions  from  American  Christians,  when 
we  consider  the  claims  of  a  hundred  destitute  nations  and  the 
desperate  need  of  a  perishing  world?  Let  it  not  be  forgotten, 
in  answering  these  questions,  that  the  British  government  has 
been  doing  much  for  the  education  of  the  youth  of  Maulmain 
during  the  last  fifty  years,  and  that  the  government  schools  are 
as  open  to  Christian  youth  as  to  others. 

Look  again  at  the  Burmese  girls’  school  in  Rangoon.  In  the 
Burman  churches  connected  with  Rangoon,  we  find  reported,  in 
1884,  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-two  members.  Here  are 
sixty  or  seventy  Christian  families,  whose  children  ought  to  re¬ 
ceive  some  measure  of  education.  What  have  American  Chris¬ 
tians  done  for  them  ?  At  the  request  of  missionaries,  sanctioned, 
apparently,  by  the  authorities  in  Boston,  there  have  been  ex¬ 
pended  for  land,  buildings,  and  the  current  expenses  of  the 
school  at  Kemendine,  during  the  last  ten  years,  $20,438.28,  be¬ 
sides  maintaining  in  the  school,  at  heavy  cost,  two  and  some¬ 
times  three  American  ladies.  In  addition  to  this,  we  find,  in 
the  last  Treasurer’s  Report,  $7,846.66  charged  “for  enlarging 
English  church,  and  for  purchase  of  land  and  house  for  boys’ 
school.”  Of  this  sum,  five  thousand  or  six  thousand  dollars, 
probably,  went  for  the  land  and  buildings  of  the  new  Eurasian 
boys’  school,  which  will  henceforth  be  likely  to  become  an  annual 
charge  upon  the  mission  treasury. 

Nor  is  this  all.  We  find  in  Rangoon  the  “  Baptist  College,” 
so  called,  open  to  all  races,  upon  which  the  Union  has  expended, 
since  1872,  besides  the  salary,  etc.,  of  the  president  and  one 
American  assistant,  $41,885.88.  Inasmuch  as  the  Burman 


20 


SELF-SUPPORT : 


pupils  in  this  school  largely  outnumber  the  Karens,  the  greater 
part  of  this  expenditure  may  well  be  charged  to  the  Burmese 
work  in  Rangoon.  Again  we  say,  unless  we  are  prepared  to 
adopt  schools  as  an  agency  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  to 
God,  how  can  we  justify  ourselves  in  expending  such  sums  of 
Christ’s  money  on  the  education  of  a  handful  of  native  Chris¬ 
tians,  to  whom  a  dozen  other  ways  are  open  for  obtaining  the 
essentials  of  an  education  ? 

Let  us  look  ahead  a  little.  The  Society  being  fairly  com¬ 
mitted  to  this  work  of  boys’  and  girls’  schools,  other  stations 
must  have  their  schools  on  a  scale  as  nearly  equal  to  that  adopted 
in  Maulmain  and  Rangoon  as  possible.  We  must  not  be  par¬ 
tial.  It  is  pleasant  to  see  the  good  work  go  on.  The  society 
of  a  dreary,  isolated  out-station  is  wonderfully  enlivened  by  the 
addition  of  two  or  three  devoted  ladies,  engaged  heart  and  soul 
in  the  refining  work  of  educating  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
native  Christians  and  their  neighbors.  A  few  converts,  too, 
are  almost  sure  to  be  added  to  the  church  from  the  projected 
school ;  and  those  converts,  surely,  will  justify  the  expense  to 
the  consciences  of  the  workers  there,  as  well  as  to  the  judgment 
of  contributors  at  home. 

In  Toungoo,  in  the  year  1880,  there  was  a  church  composed 
of  seventeen  Shans  and  twenty  Burmans.  In  1884  the  same 
number  of  Shan  Christians  is  reported,  and  four  more  Bur- 
mans,  making  a  total  of  forty-one.  The  Secretary’s  Report  for 
1880  states  that  a  girls’  school  is  “much  needed”  in  that  sta¬ 
tion.  A  building  and  grounds  were  accordingly  purchased  by 
the  Woman’s  Society,  at  a  cost  of  $3,124.54.  From  that  time 
on,  one  or  two  American  ladies  have  been  supported  in  the 
school,  and  the  current  expenses  met,  at  a  cost  of  several  thou¬ 
sand  dollars.  A  work  of  this  kind,  once  begun,  must  be  kept 
up,  or  property  will  deteriorate,  and  prestige  will  be  lost.  But, 
if  a  girls’  school  was  “  much  needed  ”  in  Toungoo,  is  there  not 
need  of  a  boys’  school  also?  And  is  there  one  of  our  forty- 
one  stations  in  Asia  where  schools  are  not  at  least  equally 
needed?  And  if  we  must  go  on  appropriating  from  two  thou- 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


21 


sand  to  three  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  the  education  of  the 
girls  of  one  race,  and  as  much  more  for  the  girls  of  other 
races,  and  equal  or  greater  amounts  for  the  boys  of  the  several 
races  in  each  of  our  old  stations,  not  less  than  half  a  million 
a  year  will  be  required  for  current  school  expenses,  allowing 
nothing  for  lands,  buildings,  school-furniture,  etc.  Under  this 
our  present  method  of  operations,  when  shall  we  overtake  the 
work,  and  be  at  liberty  to  advance  into  the  utterly  benighted 
“regions  beyond,”  to  which  the  “man  of  Macedonia”  and 
Christ  himself  are  calling  us  ? 

It  is  hard  to  call  in  question  the  policy  to  which  the  highly 
respected  officers  of  our  northern  Baptist  foreign  missionary 
societies  are  committed.  It  is  still  harder  to  differ  with  be¬ 
loved  brethren  and  sisters  who  are  bearing  their  share  of  the 
burden  and  heat  of  the  day  abroad.  But  fidelity  to  our  Master 
requires  us  to  call  attention  to  the  unmistakable  drift  of  affairs, 
and  to  raise  the  vital  question,  whether  we  are  to  improve  upon 
apostolic  examples,  and  repudiate  traditions  which  were  the 
glory  of  our  fathers.  If  so,  let  us,  with  eyes  wide  open,  com¬ 
mit  ourselves  squarely  to  the  school-system  of  converting  the 
nations.  Let  us  do  this,  although  we  cannot  point  out,  in  forty 
years’  experience  in  this  line  of  work,  a  single  instance  of  ex¬ 
tensive  revivals  and  ingatherings,  like  those  which  have  so  often 
followed  the  faithful  preaching  of  the  Word  among  the  unevan¬ 
gelized.  Then  let  us  open  our  wallets  wide,  and  contribute  ten 
times  more  than  we  have  ever  dreamed  of  doing  yet ;  ay,  and 
let  us  prepare  to  send  forth  treble  the  number  of  preachers  and 
teachers  that  would  be  necessary  for  the  conversion  of  the  world 
under  the  New-Testament  plan.  This  I  say ;  but  I  am  bound 
to  add,  that,  whenever  the  native  Christians  of  any  mission  are 
ready  to  meet  the  chief  cost  themselves,  I  would  no  more  dare 
to  withhold  advanced  Christian  schools  from  them  than  I  would 
dare  to  trample  under  foot  the  Christian  colleges  and  academies, 
or  the  common-school  system,  of  our  native  land. 


22 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


IV.  TESTS  OF  SELF-SUPPORT  APPLIED. 

The  harmony  of  view  which  seems  at  present  to  prevail  with 
regard  to  self-support  in  missions  is  delightful,  but  there  are 
certain  tests  which  must  be  applied  before  we  can  be  sure  that 
these  principles  are  carried  into  practice  on  mission-fields.  Two 
of  the  tests  for  ascertaining  the  degree  of  progress  which  our 
missions  are  making  towards  the  desired  goal  are  these  :  — - 

The  first  relates  to  the  amounts  actually  given  by  the  native 
churches  for  the  various  objects  of  religion  and  education  ;  the 
other,  to  the  sums  of  foreign  money  expended  from  year  to  year 
upon  the  schools,  the  evangelistic  and  church  work  of  the  sev¬ 
eral  missions.  In  the  tables  which  follow,  we  propose  to  give 
such  information  as  we  are  able  to  gather  under  the  first  head ; 
but  our  chief  endeavor  wfill  be,  to  pursue  the  second  line  of 
inquiry,  going  for  information,  where  all  may  go,  to  the  Treas¬ 
urer’s  Reports  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  for 
the  years  1875-84,  inclusive.  These  reports,  though  not  perfect 
for  our  purpose,  are  superior  to  those  of  any  other  society  with 
which  we  are  acquainted. 

Our  particular  object  now  is,  to  ascertain  as  exactly  as  possi¬ 
ble  the  amounts  expended  from  the  mission  treasury  on  schools 
and  on  all  kinds  of  native  work.  By  native  work  is  meant  work 
done  by  natives  for  natives,  including  the  support  of  preachers, 
teachers,  pupils  in  school,  and  hospital  work.  We  shall  exclude 
carefully  the  salaries,  outfits,  and  passages  of  all  American 
laborers  ;  also  all  sums  set  down  separately  for  mission  com¬ 
pounds,  and  dwelling-houses  for  mission  families  ;  also  the  ex¬ 
penses  of  the  press,  and  all  appropriations  for  Bible-work  so 
charged  ;  also  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  dollars  a  year, 
according  to  circumstances,  from  the  miscellaneous  appropria¬ 
tions  of  every  male  missionary  not  exclusively  engaged  in 
teaching,  to  cover  the  cost  of  mission  travel,  repairs  of  dwell¬ 
ing,  taxes,  etc.  ;  also  from  one  hundred  to  three  hundred  dol¬ 
lars  for  similar  expenses  of  every  unmarried  lady  missionary  or 
teacher.  What  remains  may  represent,  as  nearly  as  can  be 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


23 


ascertained  without  reference  to  the  books  and  correspondence 
of  the  treasurer,  the  actual  cost  to  the  American  Baptist  churches 
of  the  native  work  and  the  schools  which  are  carried  on  under 
their  auspices  in  Asia.  The  work  of  preparing  the  tables  on 
which  the  following  figures  are  based  has  consumed  many  days 
of  close,  hard  work.  I  have  been  over  the  work  repeatedly, 
until  I  am  sure  of  its  approximate  accuracy. 

After  making  all  the  deductions  mentioned  above,  we  find 
the  aggregate  amount  expended  on  our  mission-schools  (reduced 
about  one-half  by  the  exclusion  of  salaries)  and  native  work  in 
Asia,  for  the  last  ten  years,  to  be  $632, 333. 1  But  for  these 
subsidies ,  our  force  of  preaching -missionaries  on  the  field  during 
the  last  decade  might  have  been  doubled ,  with  no  increase  whatever 
in  the  contributions  from  the  churches.  Since  the  adoption  by  the 
Executive  Committee,  in  1878,  of  the  minute  in  which  they  threw 
upon  the  native  Christians  the  duty  of  educating  their  own  chil¬ 
dren,  offering  only  temporary  aid  for  higher  education  and  the 
training  of  a  native  ministry,  the  increase  of  this  kind  of  ex¬ 
penditure  has  been  rapid  beyond  precedent,  as  these  figures  will 
show :  — 

For  1878,  $47,272;  1879,  $54,980;  1880,  $59,825;  1881, 
$62,750;  1882,  $66,779;  1883,  $72,527;  1884,  $98,933. 

In  other  words,  with  no  advance  into  new  fields  which  involved 
any  considerable  expenditures  under  this  head  (the  sums  ex¬ 
pended  in  equipping  the  four  new  Telugu  stations  with  buildings, 
etc.,  being  excluded),  the  subsidies  which  we  pay  to  our  native 
Christian  allies  in  Asia  for  educational  and  evangelistic  purposes 
have  more  than  doubled  in  the  brief  time  which  has  elapsed  since 
the  minute  referred  to  was  adopted.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
find,  in  the  history  of  the  Missionary  Union,  a  more  important 
statement  of  principles  than  those  which  we  quoted,  a  few  pages 
back,  as  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Executive  Committee, 


1  Excluding  local  collections,  and  the  salaries  and  expenses  of  American 
missionaries,  the  grants  in  aid  of  native  work,  theological  education,  and 
the  Paris  chapel  in  our  European  missions,  amounted,  in  the  same  period, 
to  a  little  over  $285,000. 


24 


SELF-SUPPORT : 


March  11,  1878.  It  would  be  equally  difficult,  perhaps,  to  find, 
in  the  history  of  missions,  an  instance  in  which  sound  princi¬ 
ples,  adopted  and  published  by  responsible  men  holding  high 
trusts,  have  been  more  quickly  abandoned  in  action. 

The  responsibility  of  these  expenditures  is,  indeed,  divided, 
in  a  sense.  Some  of  the  money  has  come  into  the  treasury, 
designated  in  advance  to  the  specific  objects  to  which  it  was 
applied.  More  still  has  come  already  appropriated  by  the 
boards  of  the  Woman’s  Societies.  A  large  part,  however,  has 
been  directly  voted  from  the  treasury  by  the  Committee ;  and, 
in  accordance  with  a  provision  of  the  constitution,  which  the 
Executive  Committee  insist  upon,  even  as  against  the  Board  of 
Managers,  all  has  been  formally  appropriated  by  them,  with  no 
published  words,  so  far  as  we  know,  of  caution  or  remonstrance 
to  the  contributing  public.  Africa,  and  the  peoples  of  Asia 
who  have  yet  to  hear  the  first  lisp  of  the  gospel,  are  crying 
more  loudly  than  ever  for  us  to  come  over  and  help  them  ;  but 
our  feet  seem  to  be  fettered.  The  older  fields  of  Asia  are  ab¬ 
sorbing  more  and  more  of  our  resources.  They  will  continue 
to  absorb  more  and  more  ;  the  desired  goal  of  self-support  will 
continue  to  recede  farther  and  farther  from  our  view,  in  the 
missions  as  a  whole,  unless  the  present  policy  at  Boston  is 
reversed,  and  brought  into  harmony  with  the  declaration  of 
March,  1878.  But  let  us  proceed  to  a  study  of  the  facts  as  we 
find  them. 

In  respect  to  economy  of  expenditure  on  native  work,  the 
Karen  missions  seem  to  lead,  followed  by  the  Assam  missions, 
the  Chinese,  the  Telugu,  and  the  Burmese  ;  although  there  is 
room  for  doubt  as  to  the  order  in  one  or  two  cases.  The  Japan¬ 
ese,  the  Shan,  and  the  Kakhyen  missions  are  of  too  recent  ori- 
gen  to  be  classified  with  confidence,  although  the  expenditure 
upon  them  will  be  noted. 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


25 


AMERICAN  BAPTIST  MISSIONARY  UNION.  TABLE  III. 


Showing  the  Subsidies  paid  for  Schools  and  Native  Work  from  1875  to 
1884,  inclusive;  also,  the  Contributions  of  the  Converts,  so  far  as  Pie- 
ported,  for  One  Year. 


Mission. 

Chu  rch  Members 
in  1884. 

Aggregate  Subsi¬ 

dy  from  Amer¬ 
ican  Bap.  Mis¬ 
sionary  Union 
in  10  Years. 

Native  Contribu¬ 

tions,  1  Year.* 

1 

Bassein,  Sgau  Karen . 

6,848 

$700  00 

$12,434  40 

“  “  Normal  Institute  .  .  . 

- 

5,237  74 

$5,937  74 

- 

2 

Rangoon,  Sgau  Karen  ....... 

4,400 

8,680  63 

4,510  80* 

3 

Toungoo,  Paku  and  Red  Karen  .  .  . 

2>,564 

8,863  86 

1,772  92 

4 

Shwaygyeen,  Karen . 

1,042 

4,047  33 

988  00 

5 

Bassein,  Pwo  “  . 

1,202 

6,158  54 

1,888  84* 

6 

Tavoy,  “  . 

1,202 

6,898  00 

376  92* 

7 

Henthada,  “  . 

2,349 

14,506  02 

3,492  00 

8 

Maulmain,  “  . 

1,230 

7,683  20 

765  06* 

9 

Rangoon  and  Maoobin,  Pwo  .... 

441 

7,943  14 

574  80 

10 

Toungoo,  Bghai  Karen . 

2,500 

24,853  64 

2,050  40 

11 

Pahpoon,  Karen  (1  year) . 

54 

117  34 

- 

Karen  Theological  Seminary  .... 

- 

28,402  79 

- 

Rangoon  Baptist  College,  one-half  .  . 

- 

13,634  61 

- 

Totals,  Karen  Missions  .... 

23,832 

$137,726  84 

$28,854  14 

1 

Sibsagor,  Assam . 

209 

$5,316  23 

$26  17* 

2 

Gowahati,  “  . 

674 

13,167  07 

39  60* 

3 

Nowgong,  “  . 

110 

13,355  17 

47  90 

4 

Gowalpara  and  Tura,  Garo  .... 

828 

16,404  10 

108  00 

5 

Molong,  Naga  (9  years) . 

25 

1,354  99 

20  00* 

6 

Kohima,  “  (6  “  ) . 

7 

507  34 

11  20 

Totals,  Assam  Missions  .... 

1,853 

$50,104  90 

$252  87 

1 

Bangkok,  Chinese . 

100 

$1,399  74 

$30  75 

2 

Swatow  and  Munkeu  Liang,  Chinese  . 

959 

34,801  93 

687  13* 

3 

Ningpo,  Chinese . 

253 

20,918  27 

153  05 

4 

Ziao-hying  and  Kinhwa,  Chinese  .  . 

61 

7,916  83 

14  51 

Totals,  Chinese  Missions  .... 

1,373 

$65,036  77 

$885  44 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


TABLE  III  —  Continued , 


Mission. 

Church  Members 

in  1884. 

Aggregate  Subsi¬ 

dy  from  Amer¬ 
ican  Bap.  Mis¬ 
sionary  Union 
in  10  Years. 

Native  Contribu¬ 

tions,  1  Year.* 

Ongole,  Telugu . 

22,443 

$64,856  70 

“  High  School . 

- 

16,118  12 

- 

-  $80,974  82 

- 

Kurnool,  Telugu . 

194 

2,291  49 

$14  70 

Ramapatam,  “  (6  years) . 

628 

12,063  83 

- 

Nellore  and  Alloor,  Telugu  .... 

563 

29,397  82 

- 

Secunderabad,  Telugu  (9-years)  .  .  . 

77 

5,976  48 

- 

Hanamakonda,  “  (5  “  )  .  .  . 

16 

1,070  08 

27  60 

Madras,  Telugu  (6  years) . 

39 

7,290  58 

136  00 

Four  new  stations  (1  and  2  years)  .  . 

(with  Ongole) 

2,782  50 

83  34 

Brownson  Theological  Seminary  .  . 

- 

47,657  41 

440  00 

Totals,  Telugu  Missions  .... 

23,960 

$189,505  01 

$701  64 

Prome,  Burman . 

237 

$7,759  64 

$642  34 

Bassein,  “  . 

44 

1,609  07 

47  71 

Thongzai,  “  . 

363 

13,517  56 

236  00* 

Zeegong,  “  (9  years) . 

123 

8,650  39 

125  96* 

Henthada,  “  . 

50 

5,350  07 

23  95* 

Tavoy,  “  . 

4 

525  99 

- 

Maulmain,  “  . 

252 

$20,949  09 

- 

“  Girls’  School . 

- 

15,885  70 

- 

“  Eurasian  School . 

- 

6,409  50 

- 

-  43,244  29 

1,197  20* 

Rangoon,  Burman  ........ 

192 

$8,221  55  f 

- 

“  Girls’  School . 

- 

20,438  28 

- 

“  Eurasian  School . 

- 

6,846  66 

- 

35,506  49 

874  80 

Toungoo,  Burman . 

24 

7,927  71 

204  80 

Shwaygyeen,  “  . 

3 

2,870  48 

3  60 

Rangoon  Baptist  College,  one-half  .  . 

- 

13,634  61 

- 

Totals,  Burman  Missions .... 

1,292 

$140,596  30 

$3,356  36 

t  This  mission  also  receives  aid  from  the  Rangoon  Missionary  Society 
d  from  the  “  Russell  Fund.” 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


27 


TABLE  III  —  Concluded. 
Summary. 


Mission. 

Church  Members 

in  1884. 

Aggregate  Subsi¬ 

dy  from  Amer¬ 
ican  Bap.  Mis¬ 
sionary  Union 
in  10  Years. 

Native  Contribu¬ 

tions,  1  Year.* 

Japan  Missions . 

286 

$31,534  14 

$145  86 

Shan  “  . 

25 

15,673  57 

54  11 

Kakhyen  “  (8  years) . 

19 

1,290  51 

55  20 

Thatone  Mission  (4  years) . 

- 

865  65 

- 

Karen  Missions . 

23,832 

137,726  84 

28,854  14 

Missions  in  Assam . 

1,853 

50,104  90 

252  87 

Chinese  Missions . 

1,373 

65,036  77 

885  44 

Telugu  “  . 

23,960 

189,505  01 

701  64 

Burman  “  . 

1,292 

140,596  30 

3,356  36 

Grand  Totals,  all  Asia . 

52,640 

$632,333  69 

$34,305  62 

*  The  amounts  given  in  the  column  of  “  Native  Contributions  ”  are  taken 
from  the  statements  of  the  missionaries  embodied  in  the  American  Baptist 
Missionary  Union  Report  for  1884.  When  wanting  for  that  year,  the  as¬ 
terisk  (*)  signifies  that  the  amount  was  taken  from  a  previous  report,  or 
from  the  native  minutes  of  the  local  association.  The  column  would  show 
the  total  for  ten  years,  but  it  has  been  possible  to  obtain  that  only  in  the 
case  of  the  Bassein  Sgau  Karen  churches.  Their  contributions  from  1875 
to  1884,  inclusive,  amount  to  $133,736.80,  or  twenty-two  and  a  half  times 
the  total  of  subsidies  given  them  from  America.  There  is  great  lack  of 
uniformity  in  the  reports  of  contributions  from  different  missions.  Many 
(presumably  those  which  take  the  least  pains  to  impress  the  duty  of  giving 
upon  their  converts)  make  no  report  whatever.  Some  appear  to  include 
the  gifts  of  missionaries  with  those  of  the  native  Christians.  Some  include 
school-fees  paid  by  heathen  pupils.  One  makes  a  rough  guess,  based  upon 
no  actual  returns.  There  is  great  need  of  more  careful  attention  to  this 
matter,  and  of  uniform  practice. 

N.B.  — Rupees  are  reduced  to  dollars,  at  the  rate  of  forty  cents  for  each 
rupee. 

Y.  TWO  POINTS  TO  BE  CONSIDERED. 

(a)  How  far  are  statistical  averages  a  reliable  guide  ?  It  has 
come  to  be  a  maxim  with  many  successful  evangelistic  laborers 
at  home,  that  immediate  results  should  be  sought  and  looked 
for  with  every  effort.  In  work  for  the  heathen,  however,  there 


28 


SELF-SUPPORT : 


I 


is  so  much  of  patient  foundation-work  to  be  done,  that  we  are 
inclined  to  go  to  the  other  extreme,  and  content  ourselves  with 
vague  hopes  of  a  harvest  in  the  indefinite  future.  Table  III. 
shows,  that,  during  the  last  ten  years,  the  Union  has  expended 
upon  23,832  Karen  Christians  an  average  of  $5.78  each,  while 
they  have  contributed,  so  far  as  reported,  an  average  of  $1.21 
each  in  a  single  year.  Upon  23,9G0  Telugu  Christians  an  aver¬ 
age  of  $7.91  per  member  has  been  spent ;  while,  through  a  fail¬ 
ure  to  report  the  contributions  from  Ongole  and  two  other  Telugu 
fields,  we  are  able  to  give  an  annual  average  of  only  3  cents  per 
member  contributed.  In  Assam,  1,853  Christians  contributed 
an  average  of  14  cents  each,  while  in  ten  years  the  Union  spent 
$27.04  each  in  educating  them  and  in  aiding  them  to  do  their 
duty  in  preaching  to  their  heathen  neighbors  and  countrymen. 
The  Chinese  Christians,  so  far  as  reported,  gave  64  cents  each 
in  a  single  year,  while  they  received  from  the  Union  $47.36 
each  in  ten  years  for  religious  and  educational  purposes.  The 
1,292  Burman  Christians  are  credited  with  the  highest  average 
of  contributions,  being  $2.59  per  member ;  but  the  grants  in 
aid  of  their  educational  and  religious  work,  sent  from  this 
country  to  the  amount  of  $108.82  per  member,  during  the  last 
ten  years,  make  it  by  far  the  costliest  of  all  our  older  missions. 

Such  averages,  of  course,  are  not  perfectly  conclusive ;  for,  in 
sowing  the  gospel  seed  among  any  people,  much  may  be  sown 
that  is  late  in  germinating.  Among  the  Karens  and  Telugus, 
as  well  as  among  the  Shans  and  Burmese,  there  may  be  second 
and  third  crops,  reaped  from  previous  sowings,  which  shall 
exceed  the  first  in  richness ;  but  there  is  a  limit  beyond  which 
the  most  hopeful  laborer  must  cease  to  hope,  and  that  is  the 
limit  which  death  imposes.  The  generation  to  which  Judson 
preached  has  perished ;  and  the  multitudes  who  believed  not 
during  their  lives,  have  gone  to  the  bar  of  God.  The  seed 
which  he  sowed  in  their  hearts  has  perished  utterly,  or  become 
“a  savor  of  death  unto  death.”  Judson  will  ever  live  as  an 
inspiration  to  Christ’s  servants  in  both  hemispheres.  He  still 
lives  in  the  u  Golden  Balance,”  and  in  the  Bible  which  he 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


20 


translated.  He  still  lives  in  the  lives  of  a  few  of  his  younger 
converts,  some  of  whom  may,  possibly  (or  their  children  after 
them),  yet  become  sons  of  thunder.  But  the  effects  of  his  per¬ 
sonal  ministry  have  ceased.  The  fruit  of  his  ministry,  in  souls 
converted  through  the  words  which  fell  from  his  lips,  has  been 
garnered,  and  may  be,  for  the  most  part,  counted.  So  of  all 
other  missionaries,  each  in  his  day.  As  wise  stewards  of  a 
Master  who  counted  the  pounds,  and  took  note  of  the  increase, 
whether  thirty,  sixty,  or  a  hundred  fold,  such  averages  as 
these  are  worth  considering,  and  should  have  much  weight  in 
determining  our  mission  policy. 

(b)  What  is  a  dollar ?  In  prosecuting  mission-work  in  many 
lands,  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  potential  value  of  the 
dollar  is  in  no  two  places  or  countries  the  same.  The  Mission¬ 
ary  Union,  unlike  the  American  Board,  pays  its  missionaries 
the  same  salary,  whether  they  are  sent  to  city  or  out-station, 
to  India,  to  Burma,  to  China,  or  Japan.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
adjust  salaries  so  as  to  meet  exactly  the  great  inequality  in  the 
purcliasing-power  of  the  Mexican  dollar  or  the  rupee,  but  it 
would  seem  that  an  effort  ought  to  be  made.  A  thousand  rupees 
on  the  western  coast  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal  will  go  as  far  as 
twelve  or  thirteen  hundred  can  be  made  to  go  in  purchasing  the 
necessaries  and  comforts  which  an  American  family  need  on 
the  opposite  coast  of  Burma.  When  it  comes,  however,  to 
using  dollars  in  native  work,  the  difference  is  much  greater.  It 
is  well  established,  that  the  wages  of  a  day-laborer  in  Burma 
are  four  or  five  times  greater  than  they  are  upon  the  Madras 
coast ;  while  the  wages  of  a  day-laborer  in  New  England  are 
five  or  six  times  greater  than  of  one  in  Burma.  Ten  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  to  be  spent  in  securing  native  service  in  the 
Telugu  country,  may  go  as  far  (not  allowing  for  the  greater 
value  of  the  service  rendered  by  an  American  laborer)  as  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  would  go  in  America ;  and  we  may 
add,  that  the  dispensing  of  such  a  sum  of  foreign  money  in 
subsidies  for  schools  and  evangelistic  service  in  the  Madras 
presidency  would  be  apt  to  bring  with  it  at  least  as  much  of  a 


30 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


certain  kind  of  undesirable  influence  as  ,the  dispensing  of  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year,  by  a  home  missionary,  among 
the  pastors  and  denominational  schools  of  a  Western  State 
would  bring. 

Perhaps  I  am  mistaken ;  but,  owing  to  this  great  difference 
in  the  purchasing-power  of  the  rupee,  I  have  ventured  to  follow 
my  best  judgment  in  placing  the  Telugu  mission  fourth  on  the 
list  as  to  real  economy  of  expenditure  on  native  work.  No  one 
can  envy  that  mission  the  possession  of  its  grand  new  theologi¬ 
cal  hall  in  Ramapatam.  The  fifteen  thousand  American  dollars 
that  went  into  that  structure  of  stone  and  teak  are  well  invested, 
but  I  sympathize  with  Dr.  Williams  in  the  peculiar  pleasure 
which  he  takes  in  the  deep-toned  bell  which  has  “  not  a  cent 
of  foreign  money  in  it.”  He  writes,  “Our  plan  is,  to  train 
the  Christians  ...  to  help  themselves.  They  need  this  infi¬ 
nitely  more  than  gifts.  They  can  be  taught  to  do  for  them¬ 
selves,  and  must  be.  No  amount  of  outside  gifts  will  make 
men  and  women  of  these  Telugu  people.” 

VI.  WHERE  IS  RETRENCHMENT  POSSIBLE? 

(a)  The  Karen  Missions.  —  In  scrutinizing  Table  III.,  we 
are  struck,  first ,  by  the  great  difference  in  the  amount  of  mis¬ 
sion  money  expended  upon  two  departments  of  the  Karen  work 
in  Toungoo.  Here  are  two  missions,  started  at  the  same  time 
among  kindred  peoples,  having  their  headquarters  at  the  same 
station,  with  nearly  equal  numbers  of  converts,  each  maintain¬ 
ing  jungle  schools,  schools  in  town,  and  all  the  machinery  of 
a  widely  extended  evangelistic  work,  vigorously ;  the  one  at  a 
cost  to  American  Christians  of  eight  thousand  and  odd  dollars, 
the  other  of  twenty-four  thousand  and  odd.  The  latter  has  ab¬ 
sorbed,  in  the  last  ten  years,  three  times  as  much  as  its  neighbor 
in  Toungoo,  and  six  times  as  much  as  its  neighbor  on  the  south, 
in  Shwaygyeen.  Our  esteemed  friend  and  brother  who  has 
been  iu  charge  of  this  work  during  the  period  under  review, 
has  done  admirable  service  in  recovering  churches  that  had  been 
alienated  and  torn  by  the  influence  of  a  false  teacher.  He  laid 


BOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


31 


the  foundations  of  the  Red  Karen  work,  and  a  part  of  his 
expenditures  early  in  the  decade  were  for  that  work ;  but, 
making  due  allowance  for  both  these  factors,  there  has  been, 
undeniably,  a  freer  use  of  American  funds  on  his  field  than  in 
any  other  Karen  mission.  This  is  the  more  to  be  regretted,  for 
the  Toungoo  missions  were  begun  by  Whitaker  and  Mason  on 
the  self-supporting  principle.  Sau  Quala  repeatedly  declined 
aid  from  the  mission.  In  1855  Dr.  Mason  reports  that  “the 
assistants  have  received  their  entire  support  from  the  Karens.” 
In  1857  Mr.  Whitaker  wrote  of  “a  universal  readiness  on  the 
part  of  the  preachers  to  rely  on  God  and  their  people  for  sup¬ 
port.”  Moreover,  we  find  in  the  “Magazine”  for  June,  1870, 
a  stirring  letter  from  this  brother  himself,  narrating  a  movement 
looking  towards  the  assumption,  by  the  local  association,  “of 
the  entire  support  of  the  school  in  town,  with  that  of  the  needy 
pastors.”  With  his  natural  qualities  as  a  leader,  and  the  divine 
blessing,  he  could  not  fail  in  an  earnest  attempt  to  retrace  his 
steps,  and  lead  the  mission  back  to  the  only  healthful  pecuniary 
basis  for  any  community  of  native  Christians,  —  complete  inde¬ 
pendence  of  foreign  aid. 

With  this  single  exception,  we  believe  that  none  of  the  Karen 
missions  will  compare  unfavorably,  as  to  the  degree  of  self-sup¬ 
port  attained,  with  the  most  forward  of  our  missions  to  other 
peoples.  An  average  expenditure  of  less  than  sixty  cents  per 
member,  annually,  is  not  a  large  average  for  the  churches  of 
America  to  devote  to  the  discipline  and  aid  of  their  Karen 
allies,  if  it  be  necessary :  but  the  aggregate  is  large  ;  and,  in 
view  of  the  more  urgent  claims  of  newly  opening  fields,  the 
writer  would  appeal  to  his  fellow  Karen  missionaries,  to  see  if 
there  are  not  points  at  which  a  reduction  in  the  expenditure  of 
mission-funds  can  be  made.  Having  an  experience  of  twenty 
years  in  the  work,  and  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the  condi¬ 
tion  of  several  of  the  Karen  fields,  he  believes  that  the  native 
brethren  in  some  localities  are  able  to  bear  a  larger  proportion 
of  the  cost  of  educating  their  children,  and  of  gospel  work, 
than  they  are  doing.  He  believes  that  it  would  be  a  positive 


32 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


gain  to  the  Karen  churches,  as  a  body,  to  have  these  long- 
continued  draughts  upon  the  mission  treasury  reduced  at  once 
one-half,  and  by  the  end  of  another  decade  entirely  stopped. 

With  regard  to  the  expensive  “  college  ”  in  Rangoon,  it  is  to 
be  observed,  that  the  Executive  Committee,  in  the  minute  already 
referred  to  as  unanimously  adopted  March  11,  1878,  reluctantly 
expressed  this  opinion:  “The  establishment  of  the  college 
appears  to  have  been  a  mistake  ;  and  there  seems  to  be  no 
reason  to  expect  that  for  a  long  time  to  come,  if  ever,  it  will 
do  the  work  for  which  it  was  founded.  It  is  too  much  an 
American  school.  The  native  converts  have  had  too  little  to 
do  in  founding  and  supporting  it.  Should  it  not,  then,  be  sus¬ 
pended  or  abandoned?”  If  we  can  judge  from  the  annual 
reports  furnished  by  the  president  since  1878,  has  any  thing 
been  accomplished  which  contravenes  the  above  opinion  ?  And 
how  could  the  Committee  justify  themselves  in  appointing  an 
additional  missionary  to  the  teaching-staff  of  the  college,  and 
in  continuing  its  support  at  an  annual  outlay  of  over  four  thou¬ 
sand  dollars,  besides  interest  on  the  money  invested  in  the  com¬ 
pound  and  buildings,  when  the  urgent  need  of  evangelistic  work 
in  newer  fields  is  considered  ?  If  the  costly  experiment  must  be 
continued  indefinitely,  we  can  see  no  valid  objection  to  bringing 
the  college  under  the  wholesome  regulations  of  the  Educational 
Department,  like  other  mission-schools.  Then,  like  them,  it 
might  receive  from  one  to  two  thousand  dollars  annually  as 
“  grant-in-aid”  from  the  goverment. 

As  to  the  Karen  Theological  Seminary,  —  which  has  cost  the 
Union  over  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars  during  the  last  dec¬ 
ade,  besides  the  salary,  etc.,  of  its  president,  and  interest  on 
money  invested,  —  it  may  be  said  confidently  that  there  should 
be  a  school  somewhere  for  the  thorough  training  of  the  Karen 
ministry.  Moreover,  if  necessary,  it  is  not  unfitting  that 
American  Christians  should  continue  for  a  time  to  aid  the 
Karens  in  bearing  this  burden.  But  we  venture  to  ask  where 
the  wisdom  is,  in  keeping  a  school  for  the  training  of  jungle 
youth  for  exclusively  jungle  service,  in  the  most  expensive 


IIOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


33 


city  in  all  Burma,  and  especially  in  a  place  where  there  is  no 
native  Christian  community  to  aid  generously  in  sympathy  and 
support?  Nay,  more.  Where  is  the  humanity  in  continuing 
to  keep  it  on  a  compound  which  has  been  infested  for  eight 
years  with  a  mysterious  but  deadly  disease?  The  school  has 
been  moved  once  without  detriment :  it  can,  therefore,  be  moved 
again.  And  Dr.  Smith  must  know,  that,  if  American  support 
were  cut  off,  there  is  but  one  place  in  Burma  to  which  he  could 
turn  with  confidence  that  a  general  school  for  biblical  education 
would  still  be  successfully  maintained.  The  Karen  brethren  in 
Bassein  so  covet  the  presence  of  the  seminary  among  them,  that 
they  have  repeatedly  pledged  themselves  to  erect,  on  their 
spacious  and  healthy  compound,  all  needed  buildings,  and  to 
supply  gratuitously,  in  perpetuo ,  all  the  rice  needed  for  the  use 
of  the  pupils.1  It  would  seem  that  an  offer  so  munificent  and 
unprecedented  in  the  history  of  our  missions  should  be  most 
carefully  considered.  Add  to  this  the  fact,  that,  by  the  sale 
of  the  valuable  eight-acre  compound  in  Rangoon,  a  handsome 
endowment-fund  might  be  secured,  and  it  becomes  entirely 
feasible  to  relieve  the  Union  henceforth  from  all  charges  for 
Karen  theological  education. 

(b)  Missions  in  Assam.  —  Next  to  the  Karen  missions',  in 
economy  of  management,  I  have  placed,  with  some  hesitation, 
the  six  missions  in  Assam.  Here  we  find  Clark  and  King  in 
the  hills,  far  from  the  comforts  and  delights  of  civilization, 
rigidly  restricting  their  expenditures  to  the  bare  necessities  of 
their  work,  and  laying  the  foundations  of  Christ’s  eternal 
kingdom  among  the  rude  and  lawless  Nagas,  in  prayer,  in  ear¬ 
nest  faith,  and  self-denial.  The  missionaries  at  Tura,  also, 
while  expending  more  freely,  have  their  eyes  fixed  on  self- 
support  as  an  end  to  be  speedily  attained.  On  the  plains  are 
to  be  seen,  if  we  mistake  not,  traces  of  the  ill  effects  of  exces¬ 
sive  expenditure  in  the  past ;  but  retrenchment  is  the  order  of 
the  day  in  Sibsagor  and  Gowahati.  May  we  not  also  look  for 


1  See  Self-Support  in  Bassein,  pp.  265-267,  354,  362-367,  377. 


34 


SELF-SUPPORT : 


a  substantial  reduction  in  Ncwgong?  Conscious  of  his  falli¬ 
bility,  the  writer  still  holds  to  the  opinion  that  the  subsidies 
which  have  so  long  been  paid  to  the  older  missions  in  Assam, 
could  with  advantage  be  largely  reduced  at  once,  and  extin¬ 
guished  within  a  reasonable  length  of  time.  In  modern  mis¬ 
sions,  occasional  obedience  to  the  spirit  of  the  Lord’s  command 
to  the  twelve,  in  Matt.  x.  14,  repeated  to  the  seventy  in  Luke 
x.  10,  11,  and  exemplified  by  Paul  in  Acts  xiii.  51,  xviii.  G,  and 
elsewhere,  might  be  more  pleasing  to  Christ  than  the  endless 
waste  of  precious  life  and  treasure  on  obdurate  communities 
and  peoples.1 

(c)  Missions  to  -the  Chinese. — Among  the  pleasantest  mem¬ 
ories  of  his  life  the  writer  will  ever  reckon  the  leisurely  visits 
which  he  made,  thirteen  years  ago,  to  three  of  our  four  Chinese 
missions.  Lie  obtained  much  pleasing  evidence  of  the  hold 
which  the  gospel  had  even  then  taken  upon  a  few  hundreds  of 
the  shrewd  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Flowery  Land.  Much 
wise  and  earnest  labor  has  been  bestowed  by  our  missionaries 
upon  all  of  these  interesting  fields,  and  the  divine  blessing  has 
not  been  withheld.  Whether  the  fact  is  due  to  the  close  strug¬ 
gle  for  existence  in  an  over-populated  country,  or  to  the  intense 
worldliness  of  the  Chinese  as  a  race,  I  know  not ;  but,  for  some 
reason,  not  much  is  said  or  written,  as  yet,  by  missionaries  in 
China,  of  progress  in  self-support.  When  upon  the  ground,  I 
received  the  impression  that  the  missions  of  the  Southern  Bap¬ 
tist  Board  in  Canton  and  in  Northern  China  had  made  greater 
progress  in  this  direction  than  our  own  missions  ;  but  in  the 
lapse  of  years  we  may  have  overtaken  them.  There  is  some 
reason  to  suspect,  however,  that  our  honored  Ashmores  and 
Lords  must  still  yield  the  palm,  iu  this  respect,  to  Graves, 
Yates,  and  Crawford. 

1  From  the  statistical  table  of  the  Assam  missions  for  1880,  it  appears 
that  the  Assamese,  for  whom  the  greater  part  of  the  expenditures  of  our 
Board  in  that  province,  for  the  last  forty-five  years,  has  been  made,  num¬ 
bered  only  166  converts,  out  of  a  total  of  1,616.  Of  the  remaining  nine- 
tenths,  eight-tenths  (1,297)  were  from  the  hill  tribes,  and  one-tenth  (153) 
from  the  Kollis. 


now  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


35 


The  present  time  of  war  and  bitter  persecution  is  a  poor  time 
to  urge  a  reduction  of  expenditure  in  Southern  China.  The 
scores  of  chapels  which  have  been  burned  or  wrecked  must  be 
replaced.  If  indemnity  from  a  weak  government  is  out  of  the 
question,  American  Christians  will  be  appealed  to,  and  not  in 
vain.  Common  philanthropy  may  make  even  an  increase  of 
expenditure  advisable  and  necessary  in  some  fields  for  a  season. 
But,  with  returning  peace  and  prosperity,  a  new  leaf  should  be 
turned  over,  and  we  should  begin  to  see  the  dust-clouds  which 
herald  the  advancing  “  supply-trains  ”  from  China,  of  which  an 
able  missionary  wrote  prophetically  ten  years  or  more  ago.  In 
the  future  development  of  the  Messiah’s  kingdom,  the  two  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  millions  of  China,  the  most  industrious,  the  most 
frugal,  and  one  of  the  most  persistent,  races  on  the  globe,  must 
have  a  most  important  part  to  play.  May  the  Holy  Ghost 
hasten  the  day  when  all  of  Sinim’s  peoples  and  all  of  Sinim’s 
wealth  shall  be  the  Lord’s  ! 

It  is  noteworthy,  that,  in  the  last  report,  the  five  hundred 
church-members  returned  from  the  Chinese  churches  in  Siam  in 
1883,  are  cut  down  at  one  blow  to  one  hundred.  Whatever 
may  be  the  grounds  of  this  sweeping  reduction,  we  beg  to  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  in  the  last  ten  years  the  veteran  Dr. 
Dean  has  expended  upon  his  converts  less  money  from  the 
treasury  of  the  Union  than  any  other  missionary  in  charge  of  a 
Chinese  station. 

(d)  The  Telugu  Missions.  —  To  these  missions,  so  greatly 
blessed  and  honored  of  the  Lord,  reference  has  already  been 
made  in  no  critical  spirit.  Two  or  three  additional  remarks 
only,  seem  to  be  called  for. 

The  rapid  increase  in  the  subsidies  drawn  by  these  missions 
from  America  since  the  close  of  the  famine  should  be  noted. 
In  1878  they  amounted  to  $9,903  ;  in  1879,  to  $16,609  ;  in  1880, 
to  $19,820  ;  in  1881,  to  $17,810  ;  in  1882,  to  $21,388  ;  in  1883, 
to  $27,001  ;  in  1884,  to  $33,740.71,  more  than  treble  the  amount 
drawn  in  1878.  Is  this  increase  to  continue  indefinitely?  Mis¬ 
sionaries  to  the  Burmans,  the  Slians,  and  the  Chinese  some- 


36 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


times  tell  us,  that  if  their  peoples  would  only  come  into  the 
kingdom  in  large  numbers,  like  the  Telugus  and  the  Karens, 
they  might  dispense  with  a  large  portion  of  the  aid  which  they 
now  ask  for.  Are  they  mistaken  ? 

Table  III.  shows  a  marked  contrast  between  the  amounts 
expended  at  the  stations  east  and  at  those  west  of  the  Ghauts. 
Another  example  is  afforded,  also,  of  the  disproportionate 
amounts  that  are  apt  to  be  expended  on  the  oldest  station  of 
a  mission  ;  Nellore  absorbing,  during  the  last  ten  years,  an 
average  of  $52.21  per  member,  or  over  six  times  as  much  as 
the  average  for  the  whole  Telugu  mission. 

One  man,  and  one  only,  it  seems  to  me,  can  with  God’s 
help  successfully  lead  this  great  host  of  new  converts  out  of  the 
slough  of  dependence  on  foreign  bounty,  into  which  they  are 
near  falling,  to  the  firm  footing  of  self-reliance  and  self-help. 
May  God  gird  him  for  this  second  great  work,  and  enable  him, 
with  undiminished  ingatherings,  to  achieve  a  second  triumph 
even  grander  and  more  enduring  than  the  first ! 

(e)  The  Burman  Missions.  —  Here,  again,  we  note  a  rapid 
increase  in  the  subsidies  drawn  from  this  country,  all,  of  course, 
appropriated  by  the  Executive  Committee.  They  amounted  in 
1882  to  $11,417;  in  1883,  to  $12,809  ;  in  1884,  to  $23,647.61, 
thus  more  than  doubling  in  the  last  three  years.  During  this 
time  no  new  station  has  been  occupied,  but  one  new  missionary 
has  been  sent  out.  The  increase  is  almost  wholly  due  to  the 
expansion  of  school- work.  Again  we  are  forced  to  ask,  and 
every  contributor  to  the  Missionary  Union  should  ask,  Is 
this  the  way  Jesus  Christ  would  have  his  money  spent?  With 
a  total  membership,  in  all  the  Burman  missions,  of  1,292,  with 
151  baptisms,  and  a  net  increase  for  the  year  of  about  120,  the 
entire  cost  of  the  Burman  work  for  1884  (including  salaries  and 
passages)  was  $62,526.80.  Any  reader  can  reckon  for  himself 
the  average  cost  of  the  converts,  half  of  whom,  perhaps,  were 
the  children  of  Christians.  Since  the  inception  of  the  Burman 
mission,  in  1814,  scores  of  lives,  and  over  $2,000,000  in  money, 
probably,  have  been  expended  upon  it  by  American  Baptists. 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


37 


After  seventy  years  of  such  costly  and  comparatively  unfruitful 
endeavor,  shall  the  era  of  expensive  schools  (secular  for  the 
most  part),  which  has  already  been  inaugurated  at  three  of 
the  stations,  be  continued,  and  extended  to  all?  The  pertinacity 
and  faith  of  the  missionaries  in  this  department  are  admirable  ; 
but,  until  the  Burmans  will  accept  the  unadorned  gospel  in  con¬ 
siderable  numbers,  I,  for  one,  make  bold  to  say  that  American 
Christians  are  not  called  upon  to  sacrifice  the  lives  of  our  noble 
countrywomen  in  teaching  them  arithmetic,  and  to  double  our 
expenditures  to  pay  for  costly  school-buildings  and  apparatus. 

(f)  The  Japan  Missions.  —  The  work  in  these  missions  is 
full  of  promise  ;  but,  as  before  remarked,  they  are  of  too  recent 
formation  to  be  strictly  classified,  or  to  afford  reliable  lessons 
in  mission  policy.  But  it  is  well  to  note  the  sudden  expansion 
in  the  appropriations  for  schools  and  native  work  last  year.  The 
increase  is  fourfold,  —  from  $2,582  in  1883,  to  $10,226.91  in 
1884. 

CONCLUSION. 

Every  country  has  within  itself  all  the  necessaries  of  life, 
unless  it  be  in  times  of  famine  or  great  social  disturbance.  By 
commercial  exchanges  between  different  countries  and  climes, 
luxuries  are  obtained,  and  mutual  benefit  is  conferred.  The 
people  of  America  have  sent  cargoes  of  provisions  more  than 
once,  as  a  free  gift,  to  save  the  people  of  Ireland  from  starva¬ 
tion.  They  might  cheerfully  contribute  a  cargo  of  Carolina 
rice,  or  of  any  other  superior  grain,  to  the  government  of  India, 
to  improve  the  seed  or  increase  the  crops  of  that  country  ;  but 
they  could  not  be  convinced,  probably,  that  it  is  their  duty  to 
contribute  year  by  year,  for  generations,  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  people  of  India.  Although  the  average  standard  of  living 
is  much  higher  here  than  there,  we  know  of  no  reason  to  think 
that  it  is  our  duty  in  ordinary  times  to  share  our  living  with  the 
poorer  nations  of  the  East  or  the  West. 

In  the  economy  of  grace,  the  Lord  bids  us  u  Go  into  all  the 
world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.”  We  under¬ 
stand  this  requirement  to  be  analogous  to  the  distribution  of  a 


38 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


cargo  of  improved  grain  for  seed.  We  are  to  send  missionaries 
to  all  non-Christian  lands,  and  support  them  while  they  engage 
in  the  self-denying  work  of  u  discipling  ”  the  nations.  Scores 
are  needed  where  one  goes  now.  Fidelity  to  our  Master  requires 
us  to  do  vastly  more  than  we  have  ever  undertaken  to  do  for 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen  ;  but  the  line  must  be  drawn 
somewhere  between  what  we  do  for  the  heathen  and  what  we 
leave  for  them  to  do.  We  are  to  teach  the  converts  “  to  observe 
all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you.”  Does  not 
the“  all  things  ”  include  the  education  of  their  own  children,  the 
support  of  their  own  Christian  institutions,  and  efforts  on  their 
part  to  evangelize,  in  turn,  their  own  neighbors  and  countrymen? 
“American  support  for  Americans,  Karen  support  for  Karens,” 
was  Mr.  Abbott’s  motto  ;  and  I  know  of  no  better  rule  for 
general  adoption.  Experience  is  teaching  an  increasing  number 
of  missionaries,  that,  instead  of  subsidizing  the  native  churches, 
as  most  missions  do,  relieving  them  of  the  support  of  their  own 
pastors  wholly  or  partially,  building  their  chapels,  and  assuming 
the  principal  support  of  schools  for  the  children  of  converts 
and  heathen  alike,  the  missions  should  from  the  outset  depend 
almost  entirely  on  the  resources  of  the  countries  to  which  they 
go  for  the  development  of  the  native  work.  Self-denial,  self- 
sacrifice,  self-help,  are  the  law  of  development  in  individual  and 
in  aggregate  Christian  life.  In  no  other  way  can  Christianity 
be  successfully  planted,  and  the  native  churches  become  the 
“  handful  of  corn  upon  the  top  of  the  mountains.” 

In  the  fear  of  God,  and  with  unfeigned  respect  and  love  for 
my  brethren  at  home  and  abroad,  I  have  earnestly  endeavored 
to  ascertain  the  exact  facts  with  reference  to  the  progress  of 
self-support  in  our  Asiatic  missions.  All  that  I  have  and  all 
that  I  am  is  devoted  to  this  sacred  cause.  I  long  with  an  inex¬ 
pressible  longing  to  see  my  countrymen,  and  especially  my  own 
denomination,  more  generally  enlisted  in  this  immense  work  of 
foreign  missions.  Five  hundred  picked  men,  for  preaching 
mainly,  as  many  chosen  women  for  teaching  and  for  religious 
labor  among  their  own  sex,  and  a  million  dollars  annually  for 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


30 


their  support,  would  be  all  too  meagre  an  offering  from  the 
Baptist  churches  of  these  Northern  States.  But  before  such 
an  advance  can  be  persuasively  insisted  upon  by  our  leaders, 
before  the  hearty  and  generous  response  will  come  from  our 
consecrated  hosts,  a  rigid  scrutiny  of  the  expenditures  of  the 
Missionary  Union  must  show  to  the  poorest  contributor  that 
self-sacrifice  is  characteristic  of  all  its  agents,  that  a  wise 
economy  prevails,  from  the  Rooms  in  Boston  to  the  remotest 
out-station  in  Asia,  and  that  self-support  is  at  least  a  goal 
towards  which  steady  and  perceptible  progress  is  being  made  by 
all.  The  churches,  generally,  need  to  be  taken  into  our  confi¬ 
dence  ;  and  honest  criticism  from  any  quarter  should  be  wel¬ 
comed  without  a  frown. 

As  a  whole,  the  facts  which  we  have  discovered  are  not  of  an 
encouraging  nature.  The  tendency  to  increased  expenditure  of 
mission-funds  in  nearly  all  departments  of  mission-work  is 
alarming,  and  it  would  seem  absolutely  necessary  to  check  it. 
Where  shall  we  look  for  that  noble  rivalry  in  self-sacrifice,  in 
strict  economy,  for  Christ’s  sake,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  heathen 
masses  as  yet  utterly  neglected,  which  the  churches  long  to  see 
manifested  at  home  as  well  as  on  foreign  shores?  We  profess 
to  be  engaged  in  the  most  serious  undertaking  that  God  ever 
laid  upon  men,  —  the  conversion  of  the  world  to  Christ.  We 
profess  to  believe  that  the  heathen  are  perishing,  and  that  our 
Saviour  yearns  to  have  the  travail  of  his  soul  satisfied  in  their 
salvation.  W e  profess,  also,  to  rely  solely  upon  the  Spirit’s 
power  attending  the  preaching  of  the  Word  in  simplicity.  If 
these  professions  are  true,  and  if  the  precepts  and  examples  of 
the  New  Testament  have  been  handed  down  for  us  to  follow, 
how  can  we  escape  the  conviction  that  the  need  of  a  revolution 
in  the  present  system  of  appropriations  is  absolute  ? 

God  has  sent  upon  us  these  years  of  the  lean  kine.  He  per¬ 
mits  us  to  be  threatened  with  a  heavy  debt.1  We  are  forced  to 

1  Although  the  hooks  were  kept  open  for  donations  eighteen  days  after 
the  close  of  the  financial  year,  the  expenditures  of  the  year  1885  exceed 
the  receipts  by  considerably  more  than  $90,000.  This  is  bad  enough ;  but  the 


40 


SELF-SUPPORT: 


pause  and  consider.  Our  souls  go  out  to  Africa.  We  long  to 
see  the  great  Congo  valley  dotted  with  Christian  churches  and 
bamboo  schoolhouses.  Some  of  us  do  not  quite  understand 
how  the  Baptist  Missionary  Union  could  appoint  so  many  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  that  region  who  are  not  Baptists,  without  violating 
the  twentieth  article  of  the  constitution ;  some  would  have 
preferred  to  break  new  ground  on  the  Upper  Congo.  But  per¬ 
haps  no  mistake  has  been  made.  At  all  events,  retrenchment  is 
forced  upon  us  ;  and  the  only  way  to  retrench  that  we  know  of 
is  —  to  retrench. 

The  constitution  puts  the  power  of  appropriations  into  the 
hands  of  the  Executive  Committee.  Let  them  exercise  this 
power  of  theirs,  responsible  only  to  God  and  the  Board  ap¬ 
pointed  by  the  denomination.  Few  of  our  zealous  almoners 
and  educators  in  this  country  can  have  all  the  money  that  they 
think  is  absolutely  necessary.  There  will  always  be  a  way  found 
to  convey  gifts  to  specific  objects  over  the  heads  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee.  In  such  cases  the  escape  from  responsibility  can  only 
be  a  relief  to  the  executive  officers.  The  evil  itself  can  be 
checked  only  by  outspoken  frankness. 

We  are  persuaded  that  the  sooner  all  mission-schools  are  put 
upon  a  self-supporting  basis,  so  far  as  appropriations  from  the 
mission  treasury  go,  the  better  it  will  be  for  all  concerned.  The 
English  government  is  ready  to  afford  substantial  aid  to  all  effi¬ 
cient  schools  within  its  provinces.  This  aid,  with  that  which 
local  friends  will  give,  should  be  sufficient  to  enable  native 
Christian  communities  to  support  all  the  advanced  schools  which 
they  really  need.  If  they  are  unable,  it  is  a  misfortune  which 
they  can  bear  better  than  helpless  heathen  can  do  without  the 
gospel.  The  fact  being,  that  the  familiar  preaching  of  Christ 
and  Him  crucified  has  been  blessed  to  the  conversion  of  four,  yea, 


popular  depression  which  might  result  from  the  frank  announcement  of 
the  largest  debt  in  the  history  of  the  Union  would  be  a  less  evil,  perhaps, 
than  the  distrust  which  might  be  awakened  if  portions  should  be  taken 
from  certain  funds  on  which  interest  lias  to  be  paid  during  the  lives  of  the 
donors,  to  make  an  apparent  diminution  of  the  deficiency. 


HOW  FAR  ATTAINED  IN  OUR  MISSIONS. 


41 


ten,  times  as  many  souls  as  all  other  agencies  combined,  the  funds 
of  a  missionary  society  should  not  be  diverted  from  their  legiti¬ 
mate  use,  however  useful  foreign  schools  may  be  in  a  pagan  land. 

To  self-supporting  schools  the  Woman’s  Societies  would,  of 
course,  continue  to  send  their  well-trained  and  devoted  teachers. 
The  support  of  these  teachers  in  such  schools  is  a  heavy  bill, 
and  it  is  all  that  can  reasonably  be  asked  from  them  for  educa¬ 
tional  purposes.  It  will  be  found,  probably,  that  some  of  the 
schools  already  begun  cannot  come  up  to  this  standard.  If 
these  should  be  allowed,  for  the  sake  of  the  regions  beyond,  to 
die  a  natural  death,  the  event  should  be  regarded  as  any  thing 
but  a  calamity. 

The  value  and  importance  of  the  work  hitherto  done  by  the 
Woman’s  Societies,  East  and  West,  is  not  to  be  depreciated,  nor 
would  we  narrow  the  sphere  of  their  operations.  We  would 
rather  plead  for  their  entrance  into  a  field  of  almost  limitless 
extent,  which  they  have  as  yet  hardly  touched  upon.  The 
women  and  children  of  any  heathen  people  constitute  two- thirds 
of  the  entire  population.  Women  in  heathen,  as  well  as  in 
Christian,  lands,  rock  the  cradles  and  mould  the  characters  of 
each  succeeding  generation  of  sons  and  daughters.  To  present 
the  gospel  to  heathen  women  and  children  in  the  most  fervid 
and  the  most  scriptural  manner,  with  the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down 
from  heaven,  is  a  work  that  is  open,  I  believe,  to  the  women  of 
this  Christian  land  ;  and  in  that  work,  done  in  a  womanly  way, 
we  yet  may  see  the  grandest  mission  of  the  centuries.  There 
is,  besides,  a  vast  amount  of  Sunday  school  and  temperance 
work  needing  to  be  done  in  all  our  missions,  which  the  mission¬ 
aries  cannot  possibly  overtake.  Are  there  not  women  among  us 
whose  hearts  God  is  already  inclining  to  such  work  ?  Are  there 
not  those  who  are  willing  to  prepare  themselves  to  take  up  the 
unfinished  work  of  Anna  the  prophetess,  of  Pliebe  the  dea¬ 
coness,  of  Priscilla,  of  Persis  the  beloved,  and  of  many  other 
women,  named  and  unnamed,  who  were  loved  and  trusted  as 
gospel-workers  in  the  early  Church?  If  there  are  such,  may 
God  speed  them,  and  help  us  all  to  see,  eye  to  eye.  • 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


SELF-SUPPORT  ILLUSTRATED  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF 
THE  BASSEIN  KAREN  MISSION. 


This  work  has  been  pronounced  by  excellent  judges  to  be 
one  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  ever  made  to  the  his¬ 
tory  and  philosophy  of  missions.  Ten  missionary  societies 
have  ordered  a  large  number  of  copies  for  distribution  among 
their  missionaries,  and  the  book  has  been  introduced  as  a  text¬ 
book  in  the  Training  Institution  of  the  Danish  Evangelical 
Missionary  Society.  Single  copies  of  the  new  edition,  with 
Dr.  Hovey’s  excellent  introduction  and  a  copy  of  this  tract 
(realty  a  supplement  to  the  larger  volume) ,  will  be  sent,  post¬ 
paid ,  to  any  address  in  any  land  for  $1.50,  or  to  ministers  and 
missionaries  for  $1.25,  on  application  to  C.  H.  Carpenter, 
Newton  Centre,  Mass.  It  may  be  procured,  also,  at  any  de¬ 
pository  of  the  American  Baptist  Publication  Society. 

OPINIONS  OF  EDITORS,  MISSIONARIES,  AND  OTHERS. 

“  The  study  and  experience  of  all  the  years  that  have  transpired  since 
we  went  to  India,  lead  us  to  welcome  this  volume,  and  devoutly  thank 
God  for  it.  It  is  the  largest  contribution  to  the  work  of  foreign  missions 
within  our  knowledge  since  the  days  of  the  apostles  and  the  early  mar¬ 
tyrs,  —  larger  than  a  gift  of  a  million  dollars  in  solid  cash.  Let  the  lessons 
of  this  history  be  duly  studied  and  applied  by  every  foreign  missionary, 
and  we  may  look  for  the  speedy  evangelization  of  the  entire  heathen 
world.”  —  Rev.  Dr.  Wilder,  editor  Missionary  Review. 

“  A  book  full  of  interest,  and  sure  to  be  of  lasting  advantage  to  the 
cause  which  it  seeks  to  promote.  The  writer  is  deeply  in  earnest.  He  is 
more  than  the  historian,  and  more  than  the  advocate.  Profoundly  im¬ 
pressed  with  the  truth  of  the  record,  and  with  the  importance  of  the 
principles  it  illustrates,  he  gives  to  his  pages  a  strong  personality,  which 
impresses  itself  upon  the  reader,  and  wins  him  to  the  side  of  the  man  with 
whom  he  is  walking  in  Burma.”  —  Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D.,  in 
the  Christian  Union. 

“  An  extremely  interesting  inside  view  of  missionary  work.”  —  The 

Independent. 

42 


THE  BASSEIN  KAREN  MISSION. 


43 


“  Will  be  recognized  at  once,  by  all  competent  to  pronounce  on  the 
matter,  as  a  very  important  contribution  to  the  history  and  theory  of  for¬ 
eign  missions.”  —  Rev.  James  Mudge  (late  of  Lucknow,  India),  in  Zion's 
Herald. 

“  The  reading  of  it  is  to  be  urgently  commended,  especially  to  the  home 
conductors  of  missions  and  to  all  missionaries.  —  Allgemeine  Missions- 
Zeitschrift. 

“  A  work  of  remarkable  interest  and  value,  not  only  as  a  history,  but 
also  as  an  argument  based  on  the  facts.  .  .  .  The  whole  story  of  trial  and 
triumph  is  told  with  admirable  tact  and  temper.”  —  Homiletic  Monthly. 

“A  thrilling  account,  and  will  be  read  with  the  deepest  interest  by  all 
friends  of  missionary  work.”  —  Christian  Commonwealth ,  London. 

“  Mr.  Carpenter  has  laid  the  whole  Christian  world  under  great  obliga¬ 
tions  to  him  for  this  noble  book.”  —  Christian  Standard,  Cincinnati. 

“  We  commend  the  book  to  all  Christians  as  a  record  of  the  triumphs 
of  faith  and  heroism  of  martyrs.  We  commend  it  especially  to  mission¬ 
aries  at  home  and  abroad,  for  its  lessons  on  the  subject  of  self-support  are 
important  to  both.”  —  Missionary  Record  (Cumberland  Presbyterian),  St. 
Louis. 

“  Should  be  read  by  every  pastor  in  America.  It  is  a  timely  book,  an 
inspiring  book,  a  book  that  has  a  mission.  Its  lessons  are  needed  by  the 
leaders  in  missions  throughout  the  Christian  world;  and  the  inspiration  of 
the  example  of  zeal,  self-denial,  and  heroism  shown  by  the  missionaries 
and  the  Karen  Christians  is  needed  by  all.”  —  Baptist  Pioneer,  Selma,  Ala. 

“  Very  suggestive  and  instructive.  A  valuable  contribution,  not  only  to 
the  history,  but  to  the  philosophy,  of  missions.  It  is  the  most  historically 
accurate  and  carefully  written  book  that  has  yet  been  published  on  the 
missions  in  Burma.  We  wish  every  secretary  of  a  missionary  society, 
every  director,  and  every  missionary,  could  read  it.”  —  Chronicle  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society. 

“  Exceedingly  suggestive.  We  wish  it  could  be  put  into  the  hands  of 
every  missionary  in  India.  Valuable  hints  can  be  found  in  it  upon  many 
missionary  topics,  while  the  spirit  which  pervades  the  book  from  end  to 
end  cannot  but  be  stimulating  to  missionary  zeal  and  enterprise.  The 
heroes  of  the  story  are  not  exalted  to  impossible  pinnacles  of  excellence, 
but  their  frailties  are  admitted  with  all  frankness  and  honesty.” — Rev. 
Dr.  Thop.urn,  in  the  Indian  Witness,  Calcutta. 

“Subsidy  enervated  the  churches;  self-help,  on  the  other  hand,  invig¬ 
orated  them.  We  wish  that  every  promoter  of  missions  could  trace  for 
himself  the  proof  of  this  statement  in  the  admirable  history  of  the  Bassein 
Mission  by  Mr.  Carpenter.  In  a  narrative  of  intense  and  romantic  inter¬ 
est,  it  presents  a  distinct  view  of  one  of  the  best  missions  of  the  century, 
carried  on  by  Christian  heroes,  who  shortened  their  lives  by  devotion  to 
the  cause  they  loved  so  well.  The  adoption,  gradually  and  wisely,  of  the 
principle  of  self-help  in  all  our  missions,  would,  we  are  persuaded,  inaugu- 


44 


SELF-SUPPORT :  HISTORY  OF 


rate  a  new  era  of  progress  throughout  the  world.”  —  Spurgeon’s  Sword 
and  Trowel. 

“  I  am  exceedingly  glad  to  see  your  hook,  because  it  brings  so  freshly 
to  my  mind  a  man  who  was  very  dear  to  me,  and  whom  I  esteemed  as  one 
of  our  best  missionaries.  I  knew  Brother  Abbott  before  he  left  Hamilton. 
.  .  .  I  think  he  was  the  most  genial  man  I  ever  knew.  Your  book  brings 
him  fresh  before  me,  with  so  many  pleasant  recollections,  that  I  cherish 
the  book  as  a  blessing  and  a  friend.  I  think  it  cannot  fail  to  do  good  to 
all  who  read  it,  and  I  think  that  those  who  read  it  will  be  many.  If  they 
love  missions,  they  will  read  it ;  and,  if  they  read  it,  they  will  love  mis¬ 
sions.”— Rev.  E.  B.  Cross,  D.D.,  Toungoo,  Burma. 

“  I  read  your  book  through,  from  beginning  to  end.  I  enjoyed  it  much. 
.  .  .  I  approve  and  indorse  it,  as  a  whole,  most  heartily  and  emphatically. 
I  wish  it  might  be  in  every  Baptist  family  and  in  every  Sunday-school 
library  in  the  land.  I  thank  you  for  your  faithful  work.  May  God  reward 
you  by  making  the  book  the  means  of  awakening  a  deeper  interest  in 
missions,  and  a  deeper  study  of  the  principles,  methods,  and  policy  of 
missions.”  —  Rev.  A.  T.  Rose,  Rangoon,  Burma. 

“  Your  book  has  been  read  by  some  of  us  here  with  much  interest.  I 
mean  to  keep  it  moving  among  my  missionary  friends.”  —  Rev.  G.  L. 
Mason,  Ningpo,  China. 

“  I  fully  approve  of  the  principle,  and  we  are  trying  to  throw  the  bur¬ 
dens  more  and  more  on  the  native  brethren.”  —  Rev.  R.  H.  Graves,  D.D., 
Canton,  China. 

“  "We  have  read  your  good  and  timely  book,  ‘  Self-Support,’  with  pleas¬ 
ure  and  profit.  I  think  it  will  do  great  good.”  —  Rev.  E.  Z.  Summons, 
Canton,  China. 

“  Of  all  missions,  the  Bassein  Karen  Mission  leads  the  list,  in  my  hum¬ 
ble  judgment,  and  largely  because  it  has  kept  to  the  'principle  of  your 
text.”  — Rev.  W.  H.  Sloan,  Mexico  (late  Rangoon,  Burma). 

“A  wonderful  record.  Its  study  will  do  any  man  good.  With  the 
principles  it  advocates,  I  am  in  full  sympathy.” — Rev.  J.  A.  Freudat, 
Bhamo,  Upper  Burma. 

“  The  history  of  this  mission  is  faithfully  and  most  interestingly  re¬ 
counted,  and  yet  the  thing  to  be  illustrated  is  never  for  a  moment  lost 
sight  of.  Indeed,  it  could  not  well  be,  so  incorporated  is  this  principle  of 
self-support  in  the  entire  life  and  growth  of  the  mission.  .  .  .  Our  grati¬ 
tude  is  certainly  due  to  [the  author]  for  thus  collecting  and  putting  into 
permanent  form  these  records  of  one  of  the  most  successful  missions  of 
modern  times  or  of  any  time.  .  .  .  To  hunt  about  for  a  stray  fly  or  two  in 
this  book  of  precious  ointment  may  seem  a  very  ungracious  task.”  — 
Rev.  D.  A.  W.  Smith,  D.D.,  Rangoon,  Burma. 

“  I  am  glad  you  have  published  [your  book],  and  still  more  so,  that  the 
facts  which  it  records  ever  took  place  to  enable  you  to  publish  it.  I  hope 
that  the  book  will  be  widely  read,  and  that  it  may  promote  a  true  knowl- 


THE  BASSE  IN  KAREN  MISSION. 


45 


edge  of  missionary  work  and  interest  therein.” — Rev.  C.  W.  Park,  late 
editor  of  the  Indian  Evangelical  Review,  Bombay. 

“  I  have  read  it  through  with  pleasure  and  profit.  It  is  a  noble  histori¬ 
cal  record  of  the  early  days  of  the  mission,  and  full  of  important  informa¬ 
tion  and  suggestions  as  to  the  later  and  the  present.”  —  Rev.  S.  F.  Smith, 
D  D.,  author  of  Missionary  Sketches ,  Rambles  in  Mission-Fields,  etc. 

“  My  wife  and  I  are  reading  your  hook  with  great  interest.  The  account 
of  the  early  beginnings  of  Christianity  among  the  Karens,  when  the  Word 
was  handed  on  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  no  missionary  came  for  years 
together,  is  wonderful.”  —  Hon.  C.  Bernard,  Chief  Commissioner  British 
Burma,  Rangoon. 

“  A  great  mistake  has  been  made  by  our  societies  South  in  their  manner 
of  work  among  the  freedmen.  They  are  not  helping  them  to  do  the  work, 
but  are  doing  it  for  them  in  large  measure.  ...  I  hope  your  hook  may 
help  to  change  this.”  — Rev.  H.  Woodsmall,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

“I  read  your  book  with  profound  interest.  My  joy  and  admiration  in 
view  of  Christian  missions  were  greatly  increased.  The  type  of  piety 
developed  by  the  apostolic  labors  and  teaching  of  the  sainted  Abbott 
seems  to  me  nearer  to  the  New-Testament  model  than  any  other  found  in 
our  time.  Your  book  must  do  great  good.” — Rev.  G.  W.  Bosworth, 
D.D.,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

“  I  cannot  write  you  of  my  thoughts  as  I  read  this  wonderful  story.  .  .  . 
I  never  dreamed  of  the  work  which  was  going  on  when  I  was  a  child,  and 
used  to  hear  all  the  talk  about  ‘  Abbott’s  work.’  I  thank  you  a  thousand 
times  for  the  gathering  of  the  threads,  and  for  putting  them  before  us 
in  this  clear  and  connected  narrative.”  —  Mrs.  M.  A.  Edmond,  Salem, 
Mass. 

“  I  am  sure  your  excellent  book  will  be  read  by  [our  missionaries]  with 
the  same  interest  as  that  with  which  I  have  read  it,  and  that  it  will  con¬ 
tribute  to  the  furtherance  of  the  system  of  self-support  in  our  missions.  .  .  . 
I  wish  this  sound  principle  to  be  instilled  into  the  minds  of  [our  missionary 
students]  from  the  very  beginning  of  their  preparation  for  their  future 
work.”  — Pastor  Y.  Holm,  Secretary  Danish  Evangelical  Missionary  Society, 
Gladsaxe,  Denmark. 

“  I  want  to  tell  you  how  much  I  am  enjoying  the  reading  of  *  Self-Sup¬ 
port  ’  in  Bassein.  I  am  glad  you  have  brought  out  Mr.  Abbott’s  views  in 
regard  to  self-support.  We  must  look  to  the  future  in  laying  the  founda¬ 
tion.  A  system  may  be  adopted  which  will  yield  apparently  greater  pres¬ 
ent  results,  but  be  finally  pernicious.”  —  Miss  L.  E.  Miller  (late  of 
Tavoy). 

“  We  are  enjoying  your  hook  very  much,  and  second  Dr.  J.’s  suggestion 
that  the  Karens  should  have  an  abridged  edition  in  their  own  language. 
If  you  will  immediately  prepare  such  an  edition,  I  shall  be  glad  to  put  it 
through  our  press  to  the  best  of  my  ability.”  —  Rev.  C.  A.  Nichols,  Bas¬ 
sein,  Burma. 


46 


THE  BASSEIN  KAREN  MISSION .” 


“  I  have  found  great  interest  in  reading  your  volume  upon  self-support. 
God’s  lessons  in  the  Bassein  Sgau  Karen  work  cannot  be  made  too  con¬ 
spicuous.  I  only  wish  now  that  our  Board  could  go  hack  with  you  to 
Western  Burma,  and  spend  a  week  on  your  field.”  —  Rev.  TV.  F.  Bain- 
bridge,  author  of  “  Round-the-World  Tour,”  etc. 

“  I  have  just  finished  the  reading  of  your  hook,  ‘  Self-Support,’  and  feel 
that  I  must  thank  you  for  it  — or  God  that  he  led  you  to  write  it.  .  .  . 

I  think  that  Brother  Abbott  was  divinely  led  to  [the  true  principle] _ 

‘Karen  support  for  Karens,  American  support  for  Americans.’  .  .  .  Your 
hook  cannot  hut  do  good.”  — Rev.  E.  T.  Sandford,  St.  Jolinsbury,  Yt. 

“  I  have  read  it  through  from  beginning  to  end  with  constantly  increas¬ 
ing  interest,  and  I  hope  profit  also.”— Rev.  S.  B.  Rand,  Amherst,  Mass, 
(formerly  of  Maulmain). 

“  It  will  he  a  very  readable  hook  to  many  even  who  do  not  comprehend 
its  logical  tendency.  .  .  .  Self-support  should  he  the  aim  in  all  our  mis¬ 
sions  at  the  earliest  moment  practicable,  and  self-control  also.  The  won¬ 
derful  progress  of  these  Karen  churches  will  he  helpful  in  leading  us  in  the 
right  direction.  I  congratulate  you  on  so  successful  a  completion  of  your 
great  undertaking.  Your  hook  may  accomplish  more  even  than  all  your 
successful  personal  ministrations  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel  among  the 
heathen.”  —  Ebenezer  Thresher,  LL.D,,  Dayton,  O. 

“  I  thank  you  most  cordially  for  your  very  valuable  volume  defending  the 
great  principle  of  self-support  in  missions.”  —  Rev.  Joseph  Cook,  Boston. 

“I  have  read  your  volume  with  much  interest.  I  accept  heartily  the 
theory  set  forth,  as  limited  and  illustrated  in  the  Bassein  mission.” — Rev. 
Dr.  N.  G.  Clark,  Corresponding  Secretary  A. B.C.F.M.,  Boston. 

“A  very  interesting  hook.  I  have  thus  far  read  about  one-half  of  it, 
and  hope  to  complete  it  in  a  few  days.  I  take  it  with  me  on  my  journeys. 
The  history  of  the  Karen  missions  has  always  been  of  stirring  interest  to 
me;  hut  the  better  knowledge  which  this  hook  gives  me  greatly  increases 
that  interest.”  —  Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.  Reid,  Corresponding  Secretary  Methodist- 
Episcopal  Missions,  New  York. 

“It  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  see  the  high  merit  and  indefatigable 
work  of  my  friend  Mr.  E.  L.  Abbott,  in  years  long  gone  by,  placed  on 
record  in  a  volume  which  will  be  read  with  deep  interest  in  these  islands 
as  well  as  in  America.  Need  I  say  that  your  interesting  book  recalls  to 
me  many  happy  days  among  the  simple  Karens  in  the  midst  of  their  hills 
and  jungles?”  —  Gen.  Sir  A.  P.  Phayre,  late  Chief  Commissioner  of  Brit¬ 
ish  Burma,  Governor  of  Mauritius,  etc.,  Bray,  County  Wicklow,  Ireland. 

“I  am  reading  ‘Self-Support  in  Bassein’  with  due  care,  and  growing 
interest  as  I  proceed.  Those  of  us  who  have  a  practical  knowledge  of  mis¬ 
sions,  and  who  see  how  their  strength  and  progress  have  been  retarded  by 
foreign  nursing  and  a  far  too  lavish  supply  of  money,  cannot  but  be  inter- 


** SELF-SUPPORT .” 


47 


ested  in  tlie  history  of  a  healthier  attempt.  The  book,  as  you  say,  will 
awaken  some  sharp  criticism;  but  it  will  commend  itself  to  the  judgment 
of  most  unprejudiced  minds.  It  is  especially  advisable  to  get  it  into  the 
hands  of  missionaries  and  the  secretaries  and  directors  of  mission  societies. 
The  opinion,  I  imagine,  is  now  general,  that  the  earlier  missionaries  were 
wrong  in  doing  so  much  for  the  native  churches;  and  now  comes  the  diffi¬ 
culty  of  correcting  their  mistaken  policy.” — Rev.  E.  Storrow,  Brighton, 
England  (for  many  years  a  missionary  of  the  L.M.S.  in  Calcutta). 

“  I  have  read  Self-Support  ’  with  an  interest  second  only  to  that  with 
which  I  read  the  life  of  Dr.  Judson,  and  in  some  respects  with  an  interest 
such  as  no  other  mission-story  ever  awakened  in  my  mind.  As  I  complete 
the  reading,  I  ask  myself,  ‘  What  can  be  said  in  reply  to  the  argument  which 
it  presents?  ’  It  seems  unanswerable.  Two  points  are  made  perfectly  clear 
by  it,  —  the  necessity  of  developing  a  spirit  of  self-support  among  the  con¬ 
verts,  and  the  need  of  a  Christian  education  for  the  people  who  have  been 
evangelized.  The  first  principle  lies  at  the  very  root  of  Christianity.”  — 
Rev.  Gf.  B.  Gow,  D.D.,  Glen’s  Falls,  N.Y. 

“The  book  is  cheap  at  $1  50,  as  books  are  published,  and  its  contents 
are  richer  than  its  external  dress  and  form.  I  hope  it  may  have  a  large 
circulation.  Its  excellences  are  abundant,  and  its  failings  are  few  and  by 
no  means  considerable.” — Rev.  J.  N.  Murdock,  D.D.,  Corresponding  Sec¬ 
retary  A.  B.  M.  Union. 

“I  thank  you  for  your  interesting  book.  We  think  it  would  be  useful 
for  our  mission-conference  libraries  in  India,  and  are  ordering  twelve  copies 
through  Triibner  &  Co.  for  that  purpose.”  —  Eugene  Stock,  Editorial 
Secretary  Church  Missionary  Society. 

“  Let  me  thank  you  for  the  service  which  you  have  rendered  the  cause 
of  Christian  missions  by  writing  ‘  Self-Support  in  Bassein.’  I  have  just 
finished  the  careful  reading  of  it,  and  am  profoundly  impressed  with  its 
value.  It  is  a  revelation,  a  demonstration,  and  an  inspiration,  —  a  revela¬ 
tion  of  missionary  life  of  unsurpassed  interest ;  an  historical  demonstra¬ 
tion  of  your  thesis,  that  the  evangelical  work  done  by  natives  in  our  foreign 
fields  must  be  sustained  by  natives  ;  an  inspiration  of  courage  and  hope 
in  the  prosecution  of  our  divinely  appointed  task  of  giving  the  gospel  to 
the  world.  Upon  the  method  which  you  advocate,  there  is  reasonable 
ground  for  faith  ;  our  resources  of  men  and  money  seem  more  nearly  ade¬ 
quate  to  the  demands  of  the  enterprise  than  under  the  current  system.”  — 
Rev.  H.  E.  Robins,  D.D.,  late  President  of  Colby  University . 

“Among  the  most  valuable  of  recent  additions  to  missionary  litera¬ 
ture.  .  .  .  With  admirable  modesty  the  author  tells  almost  nothing  about 
his  own  personal  work.  .  .  .  The  book  gives  us  fresh  occasion  to  congratu¬ 
late  our  brethren  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention,  that  the  poverty  of 
our  treasury  and  the  good  sense  of  our  missionaries  have  preserved  us  from 
some  of  the  mistakes  into  which  others  have  fallen.”  —  Foreign  Mission 
Journal,  Richmond,  Va.,  April,  1884. 


■ 


. 


'  , 


r 


v 


/ 


/ 


» 


f 


mm 


